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THE • CATHEDRALS  OF 
ENGLAND  AND  WALES 
T.-  FRANCIS    BUMPUS 


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ARLISLE    .      .     . 
CATHEDRAL, 


THK   CHOIR 


THE    CATHEDRALS    OF 
ENGLAND  AND  WALES 


By    T.    FRANCIS    BUMPUS 

AUTHOR  OF  "HOLIDAYS  AMONG  THE 
GLORIES  OF  FRANCE  "  "THE  CATHEDRALS 
OF  NORTH  GERMANY"  "STAINED  GLASS 
IN  ENGLAND  SINCE  THE  GOTHIC  REVIVAL" 
ETC. 


FIRST  SERIES 


'  Domifu,  diUxi  decorum  domus  tua 
ei  locum  kabitationis  tuet " 


NEW  YORK:  JAMES  POTT  &  CO. 
LONDON:  T.  WERNER  LAURIE 
CLIFFORD'S   INN.     MDCCCCV 


Callegi 
Ubraqf 


3SU 

y\ 


TO  THE 

RIGHT  REV.   THE    LORD   ALWYNE   COMPTON, 
BISHOP  OF  ELY, 

THESE  VOLUMES  ARE,  WITH  HIS  PERMISSION, 
RESPECTFULLY   DEDICATED 


1326429 


CONTENTS 

CMAr,  PAxac 

1.  INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH I 

IL  DURHAM 35 

III.  ELY 65 

IV.  LINCOLN 113 

V.   SALISBURY I38 

VI,   WORCESTER 166 

VII.  HEREFORD I98 

VIII.  CHICHESTER 223 

IX.  CHESTER 246 

X.   BRISTOL 264 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


PACK 

Peterborough  Cathedral,  North  Side  of  Nave,  Anglo- 

Norman  Style 

6 

WORCESTER 

»• 

Lady  Chapel,  Early  English 

Style        .        .        .        . 

lO 

Exeter 

«i 

View  across   Nave,   Deco- 

rated Style 

14 

Canterbury 

•   »» 

Nave,  Perpendicular  Style 

18 

Durham 

»» 

From  St  Oswald's  Church- 

yard 

35 

i> 

M 

Nave  looking  East 

44 

»» 

»» 

Example  of  Choir  refittec 

after  the  Restoration 

•      52 

Ely 

»» 

From  the  South 

■      65 

j» 

»» 

Nave,  looking  East 

.      84 

Lincoln 

n 

From  the  South-west 

.    "3 

» 

n 

The  Choir  . 

.    130 

Salisbury 

j> 

From  the  Cloisters 

138 

>» 

j> 

Nave,  looking  East 

.     152 

Worcester 

»> 

From  the  South  Side 

.    166 

» 

i» 

Choir,  looking  East 

.    188 

Hereford 

» 

North  Transept,  Porch  anc 

Tower 

:    '98 

Xll 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Chichester  Cathedral,  From  the  North-east     .       .  221 

„                        „            The  Retrochoir      .        ,        .  228 

„  „  The     Choir,     with     Bishop 

Sherburne's    Altar  -  Screen 

Restored     ....  234 

Chester                  „           From  the  North-east     .        .  246 

„                        „            Choir,  looking  East  252 

Bristol                               From  the  North-east             .  264 

,,                        „           Nave,  looking  East        .        .  268 


THE  CATHEDRALS 
OF  ENGLAND  AND  WALES 


CHAPTER   I 

INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH 

At  the  outset  of  a  lecture  delivered  nearly  half  a 
century  ago  at  Chichester  on  "  The  Causes  of  Sub- 
limity and  Beauty  in  Cathedral  Architecture,"  one 
of  our  most  accomplished  ecclesiologists — the  late 
Archdeacon  Freeman — observed  : — 

"The  study  of  church  architecture  may  be 
approached  from  so  many  sides,  and  possesses  such 
varied  sources  of  attraction,  that  we  cannot  wonder 
that  persons  of  the  greatest  possible  variety  of 
tastes  and  temperaments  should  be  found  at  the 
present  day  to  take  an  interest  in  it 

"  The  wonder  rather  is,  that  any  age  should  be  found 
indifferent  to  a  subject  which  appeals,  in  so  many 
ways,  alike  to  our  highest  faculties  and  aspirations, 
and  to  our  most  ordinary  moods  and  everyday 
expressions  of  thought.  It  should  seem  as  if  no 
one,  in  whom  there  lingers  any  feeling  of  association 
with  the  past, — of  delight  in  what  is  beautiful, — of 
awe  at  what  is  lofty  and  sublime,  or  of  reverence  for 
that  which  enshrines  and  shadows  forth  holy  things 
— could  really  be  indifferent  to  the  charms  of  church 

A 


2  CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

architecture.  In  a  word,  we  are  all  of  us  by  nature, 
or,  however,  by  Christian  education,  lovers  of  it.  It 
may  therefore  fairly  be  presumed  that  to  call 
attention  to  any  part  of  this  wide  subject,  is  to  open 
a  book  which  all  must  read  with  delight,  or  rejoice 
in  hearing  read  by  others." 

This  was  wisely  and  truly  said  ! 

An  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  ecclesiastical 
architecture  of  Northern  Europe  emboldens  me 
to  affirm,  that  England  has  a  greater  number  of 
noble  parish  churches  than  France  and  Germany 
put  together.  Our  Collegiate  and  Royal  chapels 
and  our  village  churches  are  indeed  unrivalled ; 
but  our  cathedral  churches,  too,  will  bear  comparison 
with  the  grandest  in  Europe.  Considering,  indeed, 
the  small  area  of  England,  and,  until  the  commence- 
ment of  the  last  century,  its  small  population,  it  may 
be  said  that  our  cathedrals  are  proportionately 
nobler  and  more  numerous  than  those  of  any  single 
nation  in  the  world.  In  the  varying  styles  of  their 
architecture,  we  may  read  the  habits,  and  almost 
discern  the  thoughts,  of  mankind  at  certain  periods, 
whilst  independently  of  the  information  thus  con- 
veyed by  their  plans  and  arrangements,  there  is  ever 
in  these  noble  buildings  enough  of  artistic  beauty  to 
create  a  high  interest  in  the  mind  of  the  student. 

Even  in  their  successive  repairs,  alterations,  and 
embellishments,  it  is  curious  to  observe  the  different 
types  of  beauty  which  have  formed  the  prevailing 
standard  of  various  eras.  Then,  in  those  grand 
galaxies  of  buildings,  the  colleges  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  we  are  furnished  with  a  series  of  examples 
for  studying  the    architecture    of    every   successive 


INTRODUCTORY   SKETCH  3 

period  from  the  thirteenth  century  to  the  present 
day.  Some  are  to  be  admired  for  their  magnificence 
or  their  beauty,  and  others  for  the  reflected  light 
they  throw  upon  the  history  of  the  two  Universities 
and  the  nation. 

The  history  of  church  architecture  in  England  is  so 
closely  bound  up  with  the  progress  of  civilisation  and 
the  general  history  of  the  country,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  understand  the  one  properly  without  some  know- 
ledge of  the  other. 

Every  country  develops  by  degrees  its  own 
literature,  art,  and  architecture,  and  when  a  country 
has  developed  its  own  characteristics,  there  is  no 
necessity  of  seeking  further  foreign  traits.  English 
architecture  was  the  result  of  climate,  material  and 
race — the  combination  of  Celtic,  Norman,  and  Saxon 
elements  ;  its  development  has  been  continuous,  and 
every  successive  age  has  given  us  something  new. 

The  church  architecture  of  France  and  Germany 
presents  so  many  features  analogous  to  our  own,  that 
the  reader  must  not  be  surprised  to  find  frequent 
reference  in  the  succeeding  pages  to  work  that  was 
going  on  contemporaneously  in  those  countries. 
And  here  I  may  take  the  opportunity  of  observing 
that  the  series  of  changes  from  the  early  Roman- 
esque to  the  establishment  of  Pointed  architecture, 
and  thence  again  to  its  final  extinction,  differs 
materially  in  the  three  countries.  It  is  remarkable, 
however,  to  observe  how  they  seem  gradually  to 
approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  one  another,  till 
towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  when 
all  appear,  though  by  different  routes,  to  have  arrived, 
in  the  main  at  least,  at  the  same  point,  as^  evinced 


4  CATHEDRALS    OF   ENGLAND 

in  the  Angel  Choir  of  Lincoln  Cathedral,  the  Sainte 
Chapelle  at  Paris,  and  the  Choir  of  Cologne 
Cathedral. 

Even  here  some  differences  still  remained,  as  might 
be  expected,  from  slight  varieties  in  climate,  materials, 
and  racial  habits ;  still,  to  the  general  observer,  the 
essential  principles  and  elements  of  the  complete 
Gothic  styles  of,  let  us  say,  1280,  were  perfectly 
coincident  in  France,  Germany,  and  England. 

This  coincidence  was,  however,  but  of  short  dura- 
tion, for  from  this  point  all  again  diverged  ;  we  settling 
down  into  the  Perpendicular  ;  France  retaining  the 
Flamboyant,  until  the  great  wave  of  the  Renaissance 
swept  over  it  before  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  ; 
while  the  Germans  launched  out  into  that  exuberant 
fancy,  that  intense  love  for  the  picturesque,  and 
that  strong  predilection  for  creating  difficulties  in 
order  to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  surmounting  them, 
which  too  often  outran  discretion. 

English  cathedrals  and  abbeys  of  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries  derive  their  impressive 
character  from  that  lowness  which  not  only  makes 
them  appear  longer  than  those  of  France,  but  has 
permitted  their  architects  to  extend  and  vary  them 
by  the  addition  of  eastern  transepts,  and  chapels 
secured  by  the  elongation  of  the  choir  aisles,  so  that 
it  is  in  their  plans  that  we  may  look  for  the  most 
interesting  points  of  distinction  between  our  cathedrals 
and  those  of  the  Continent. 

In  England,  square  ends  gradually  triumphed 
over  semicircular  or  polygonal  ones.  First,  in  new 
churches  built  in  the  last  days  of  Romanesque,  as  at 
Kirkstall,  and  in  the  earliest  days  of  Pointed,  as  at 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  5 

New  Shoreham,  Fountains,  and  Brinkburne,  and  at  a 
later  date  in  the  altering  of  old  churches.  We  have, 
of  course,  instances  of  the  use  of  the  apse  in  post- 
Conquest  times.  St  Hugh's  Choir  at  Lincoln,  the 
earliest  example  of  the  pure  Pointed  style  in  England, 
had  a  large  apse,  in  shape  three  sides  of  a  hexagon. 

Westminster  Abbey — "  a  church  built  on  a  French 
ideal,  but  with  English  detail ;  a  great  French 
thought  expressed  in  excellent  English  " — is  apsidal, 
with  a  corona  of  chapels ;  so  is  Tewksbury  Abbey. 
The  Decorated  Lady  Chapels  of  Lichfield  and  Wells 
terminate  in  polygonal  apses,  as  do  the  Perpendicular 
choirs  of  St  Michael's,  Coventry,  Westbury-on-Trym, 
near  Bristol,  and  Wrexham.  The  Tudor  Chapel  of 
Henry  VII.  at  Westminster  is  an  unique  instance  of 
a  chapel-encircled  aipse  at  so  late  a  period.  But  these 
are  isolated,  and  therefore  extraordinarily  valuable 
examples  which  may  be  taken  as  exceptions  that  go 
to  prove  the  rule. 

The  disuse  of  the  apse  in  England  at  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century  brought  into  existence  that 
elongated  form  of  transept,  which  had  for  its  object 
the  provision  of  additional  altar  space ;  chapels,  some- 
times apsidal,  opening  out  of  an  eastern  aisle  with 
which  these  transepts  were  in  most  instances  pro- 
vided. Why  the  square  east  end,  as  seen  on  so  grand 
a  scale  at  Ely,  Lincoln,  Gloucester  and  York,  became 
so  universal  in  England  does  not  seem  quite  clear, 
though  several  theories  have  been  propounded. 

Perhaps  English  architects  had  not  the  engineering 
abilities  of  their  Continental  brethren,  and  therefore 
did  not  feel  themselves  equal  to  coping  with  the 
difficulties  presented  by  the  chevet ;  or  it  may  have 


6  CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

been  that  love  for  tradition  pointed  to  the  revival  of 
the  square  end,  which  was  common  in  Anglo-Saxon 
times.  But  the  real  reason  was  doubtless  a  religious 
one  ;  for  that  strict  regard  for  the  orientation  of  altars 
which  was  always  very  strong  in  England — even  in 
the  laxest  post- Reformation  days  —  could  not  be 
adhered  to  when  the  radiating  chapel  system  was 
adopted. 

An  interesting  example  of  the  use  of  the  apse 
came  to  light  during  the  restoration  of  Chester 
Cathedral  between  1868  and  1876.  When  the  choir 
was  rebuilt  and  lengthened  at  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  the  north  and  south  aisles  were 
finished  off  with  semi  -  hexagonal  apses.  In  Per- 
pendicular times  these  terminations  were  removed, 
and  the  aisles  continued  until  they  over-lapped  two 
bays  of  the  Lady  Chapel,  which,  until  that  period, 
was  difficult  of  access  from  the  choir.  When  Sir 
Gilbert  Scott  came  to  restore  the  choir  between  the 
years  above  named,  he  found  not  only  the  foundation 
of  the  southern  apse,  but  also  many  of  its  details 
which  had  been  embedded  in  the  Perpendicular  work. 
He  therefore  took  the  bold  course  of  rebuilding  this 
apse  exactly  on  the  old  site. 

In  France,  where  the  chevet  ^  was  always  in  vogue, 
from  the  Romanesque  of  Issoire  and  N6tre  Dame  at 
Clermont  Ferrand,  to  the  Renaissance  of  St  Eustache 
at   Paris   and   St   Pierre  at   Auxerre,   the  transepts 

^  The  chevet  is  a  semicircular  or  polygonal  east  end,  with  a 
procession  path  from  which  chapels  radiate,  encircling  it.  We 
see  it  in  its  grandest  and  most  developed  state  in  the  cathedrals 
of  Amiens,  Chartres,  Le  Mans,  Meaux,  Rheims,  Tours  and 
Troyes. 


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ANGLONORM\N    STYLE 

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^     CATHEDRAL . 

INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  7 

were  usually  short.  This  gives  the  rationale  of 
our  elongated  transepts. 

In  Germany,  the  aisleless  apse,  which  may  be 
traced  back  to  the  large  niche  or  semi-dome  of  the 
basilica,  reproduced  itself  down  to  the  latest  days 
of  Pointed  in  that  country.  The  French  chevet 
arrangement  was  occasionally,  but  by  no  means 
successfully,  adopted,  for  of  all  the  northern  peoples 
the  Germans  were  the  least  artistic  in  the  planning 
of  their  churches.  With  them,  as  with  us,  strictness 
with  regard  to  orientation  was  universal ;  and  when 
space  for  additional  altars  was  required,  it  was  met 
by  giving  the  choir-aisles,  which  in  some  cases  were 
doubled,  an  apsidal  termination,  so  that  frequently 
the  plan  of  a  German  church  may  be  styled  parallel 
cinque-apsidal. 

The  square  end,  however,  is  not  so  English  a 
feature  as  many  suppose.  In  travelling  about 
France  and  Germany  one  frequently  comes  across 
it,  though  its  use  was,  in  most  cases,  a  local  one.^ 

To  what,  then,  are  we  to  attribute  all  this  variety  ? 
To  whim  ?  Love  of  novelty  ?  Trafficking  spirit  of 
composition  ?  No !  men  of  mind  were  at  work 
whose  genius  was  not  exhausted  by  one  single  effort, 
uniting  great  originality  with  indomitable  patience 
and  enduring  labour,  and  a  thorough  systematic 
education  in  their  art. 

In  our  cathedrals,  which  surpass  those  of  the 
Continent  in  variety  of  outline,  the  endless  forms  of 
Pointed  architecture  appear  not  only  in  the  difference 
of  building  from  building,  but  in  the  different  parts 

*  As,  for  instance,  the  districts  surrounding  Laon  and  Etampes 
in  France,  and  generally  throughout  Westphalia  in  Germany. 


8  CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

of  the  same  edifice.  And  so  distinct  and  so  peculiar 
is  the  character  of  each,  that  to  confuse  one  cathedral 
with  another  is  well-nigh  impossible. 

Nor  is  it  only  in  our  cathedrals  and  abbeys  that 
this  plastic  nature  of  Pointed  architecture  is  patent, 
but  in  those  parish  churches  which  are  the  pride 
and  glory  of  England. 

The  reason  of  this  is,  that  when  these  great  build- 
ings arose,  machinery  was  not  invented. 

The  endless  forms  had  all  to  be  cut  honestly  in 
stone,  and  the  artificer  relieved  the  monotony  of  his 
labours  by  varying  it  according  to  his  fancy,  bringing 
out  the  creative  faculty  of  the  soul,  giving  lightness 
and  strength  to  the  arm,  and  stamping  on  the  result 
a  living  character,  which  no  tame  copying  can  ever 
reach. 

As  regards  their  capitular  constitution,  our 
cathedrals  divide  themselves  into  three  orders  of 
foundation :  the  Old,  the  New,  and  the  Modern. 

By  cathedrals  of  the  old  Foundation  are  meant 
those  whose  chapters,  consisting  not  of  monks  but 
of  secular  canons,  were  not  disturbed  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VHI.,  when  all  monastic  establishments  were 
either  dissolved  or  remodelled  with  chapters  of  secular 
clergy ;  such  are  York,  St  Paul's,  Lincoln,  Lichfield, 
Hereford,  Wells,  Chichester,  Salisbury,  Exeter,  and 
the  four  Welsh  cathedrals  of  St  David's,  Llandaff, 
St  Asaph,  and  Bangor. 

The  remaining  cathedrals  which,  having  been 
served  by  monks,  were  refounded  with  secular 
canons  in  the  time  of  Henry  VHL,  and  abbey 
churches,  then  made  cathedrals  for  the  first  time, 
are  styled  cathedrals  of  the  New  Foundation.     These 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  g 

are  Canterbury,  Durham,  Winchester,  Carlisle,  Ely, 
Norwich,  Worcester  and  Rochester ;  Gloucester, 
Bristol,  Oxford,  Peterborough  and  Chester. 

To  the  third  class  belong  those  churches  which 
have  been  raised  to  cathedral  rank  within  the  last 
century,  to  meet  the  spiritual  exigencies  of  rapidly 
increasing  populations.  The  see  of  Ripon  was 
created  in  the  reign  of  William  IV. ;  Manchester, 
St  Alban's,  Truro,  Liverpool,  Southwell,  Newcastle, 
Wakefield  and  Bristol  ^  during  that  of  Queen 
Victoria ;  and  Birmingham  and  Southwark  under 
that  of  His  present  Majesty. 

The  devastation  of  the  Danes  in  the  ninth  and 
tenth  centuries  point  to  the  extreme  improbability 
of  our  having  many  buildings  remaining  of  a  date 
anterior  to  that  period.  The  crypt  of  Hexham — 
the  master-piece  of  St  Wilfrid,  and  the  fifth  church 
built  in  stone  in  Britain — and  that  of  Ripon  must, 
however,  be  considered  works  of  the  eighth  century. 
A  small  portion  of  the  walls  of  St  Martin's,  Canter- 
bury, belongs  to  the  Roman  British  period,  while 
to  that  comprised  between  the  departure  of  the 
Romans  and  the  year  looo,  which  may  be  reckoned 
as  the  period  when  real  mediaeval  architecture  began 
in  this  country,  we  may  refer  the  oratory  of  St  Piran 
in  Cornwall,  part  of  the  walls  of  Brixworth  Church 
in  Northamptonshire,  and  possibly  some  few  others. 

Glowing  accounts  of  certain  pre-Danish  Invasion 
churches  have  come  down  to  us  through  such 
chroniclers  as  Stephen  Eddy,  Eadmer,  the  Venerable 

^  The  bishopric  of  Bristol  was  suppressed  and  united  to 
Gloucester  in  1836.  Since  1898,  however,  it  has  once  more  had 
a  separate  existence. 


lo         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Bede,  and  Gervais,  but  like  that  left  by  Venantius 
Fortunatus  of  Childebert's  Notre  Dame  at  Paris, 
they  are  too  vague  to  be  relied  on.  Still,  we  can 
gather  sufficient  from  them  to  believe  that  these 
structures  were  somewhat  rude  imitations  of  the 
Roman  and  Eastern  Basilicas,  worked  out  in  the 
absence  of  examples  from  the  inner  consciousness  of 
the  Teutonic  mind. 

Of  the  hundred  or  so  of  Anglo-Saxon  churches 
scattered  up  and  down  the  country,  some  may  be 
considered  earlier,  and  others  rather  later,  than  that 
of  Deerhurst  in  Gloucestershire,  whose  date,  known 
to  be  1056,  might  be  taken  as  a  key  to  the  history 
of  the  whole,  as  the  characteristic  features  of  the 
style  are  nearly  all  to  be  found  in  that  church. 

The  "long  and  short  work"  and  balusters  in 
windows  denote  the  hand  of  carpenters  rather  than 
masons,  for  these  buildings  were  copied  from  those 
they  had  before  their  eyes,  whereas  in  France  there 
were  Roman  and  Grecian  buildings  remaining  which 
served  as  models  even  down  to  the  period  when  the 
principles  of  the  fully  developed  Gothic  had  firmly 
established  themselves.  The  buildings  of  the  eleventh 
century  mark  a  period  of  very  rapid  progress  from 
almost  barbarism  at  the  beginning — the  masonry 
being  of  the  rudest  possible  description — to  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  civilisation  and  very  good  masonry 
at  the  end  of  it.  The  Norman  mode  of  building 
made  its  appearance  before  the  Conquest,  as  testified 
in  considerable  remains  of  the  Abbey  of  Edward 
the  Confessor  at  Westminster,  and,  if  Professor  Free- 
man is  to  be  credited,  in  that  noble  Romanesque 
fragment,  the  nave  of  Waltham  Abbey.     During  the 


m 


Ir 


w 


ORCESTER     .     . 
CATHEDRAL. 


Lady  Chapel 
Early  English  Style 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  ii 

reign  of  the  Conqueror  few  buildings  were  completed, 
though  many  were  begun  ;  forty-eight  castles  were  in 
progress,  besides  several  abbeys,  and  these  probably 
furnished  work  enough  for  the  Norman  masons.  But 
it  is  probable  that  parish  churches  still  continued  to 
be  built  by  the  Saxons  after  their  own  fashion, 
though  with  better  masonry. 

Among  the  most  notable  examples  of  pre-Conquest 
churches  are  Bradford-on-Avon  in  Wiltshire,  Earl's 
Barton  and  Bamack  in  Northamptonshire,  Stow 
in  Lincolnshire,  and  the  towers  of  Bosham  near 
Chichester,  Clapham  near  Bedford,  and  Barton-on- 
Humber  in  Lincolnshire. 

The  towers  of  St  Michael,  Oxford,  St  Benet, 
Cambridge,  St  Peter  at  Gowts,  and  St  Mary-le- 
Wigford,  Lincoln,  Wootton  Wawen  in  Warwickshire, 
Jarrow  and  Bishop  Wearmouth,  though  preserving 
many  of  their  Anglo-Saxon  features,  belong  to  the 
time  of  the  Conqueror,  as  does  perhaps  Sompting  in 
Sussex — a  relic,  solitary,  destitute  of  history,  and, 
until  half  a  century  ago,  undeciphered,  of  that  long 
and  vigorous  civilisation  of  which  the  monumental 
knowledge  is  so  faint  and  flickering,  compared  with 
what  we  possess  of  the  secular  and  religious  con- 
structions of  Sennacherib  and  Rameses. 

The  great  advance  in  the  Norman  style  belongs 
to  the  reigns  of  William  Rufus  and  Henry  I. ;  indeed 
the  twelfth  century  throughout  was  a  period  of  very 
rapid  progress,  and  before  the  end  of  it  we  have  as 
fine  masonry  as  the  world  has  ever  seen,  although 
the  style  is  still  heavy  and  massive,  symbolical  of 
the  oppressive  rule  of  the  Norman  kings. 

The  Saxons  had  practised  the  round  arched  style 


li         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

for  centuries,  but  it  received  immense  impetus  from 
the  superior  knowledge  and  boldness  of  the  Normans, 
and  it  had  now  matured  into  an  architecture  which 
stood  quite  alone.  Lanfranc  had  rebuilt  Canterbury 
Cathedral  on  the  motif  of  St  Etienne  at  Caen,  whose 
original  plan,  it  may  be  well  to  remind  the  reader, 
was  greatly  altered  early  in  the  thirteenth  century 
when  the  present  choir  was  built  in  the  most  graceful 
Norman  version  of  First  Pointed ;  Gundulph  had 
begun  Rochester,  Walkelyn  Winchester,  Simeon  Ely, 
Losinga  Norwich,  Wulfstan  Worcester,  and  Carileph 
Durham,  so  that  by  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century  the  works  of  these  great  churchmen  were 
no  longer  overpowered  by  the  influence  of  foreign 
novelties,  but  were  working  with  a  respect  for,  and 
a  careful  study  of,  the  works  of  their  predecessors, 
yet  with  that  individuality  which  was  the  natural 
outcome  of  the  admixture  of  race  and  temperament. 
All  the  Anglo-Romanesque  examples  above  quoted 
have  a  massiveness  and  grandeur  which  is  hardly 
equalled  by  contemporary  Norman  ones.  Nor  until 
a  much  later  period  can  the  Romanesque  of  Germany 
boast  the  same  delicacy  and  refinement  observable 
in  Ely,  Peterborough,  Hereford,  and  Chichester 
Cathedrals;  Christchurch,  Dunstable,  Romsey  and 
Selby.  The  naves  of  Gloucester  and  Tewksbury, 
with  their  ponderous  cylindrical  columns,  must  be 
assigned  to  this  period — the  first  half  of  the  twelfth 
century — likewise  the  crypts  of  Canterbury  and 
Worcester,  the  towers  of  Exeter,  the  chapter-house 
and  passage  thereto  at  Bristol,  and  the  churches 
of  St  Bartholomew,  Smithfield,  Barfreston,  Castor, 
Dunstable,  Iffley,  Porchester  and  Stewkley. 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  13 

The  advent  of  the  pointed  arch  which  had  come 
into  use  in  France  early  in  the  twelfth  century,  was 
hastened  among  ourselves  by  the  destruction  in  11 74 
of  the  Norman  choir  of  Canterbury  Cathedral,  whose 
rebuilding,  with  little  loss  of  time  under  William  of 
Sens,  seemed  to  produce  an  immense  effect  through- 
out Britain,  for,  from  that  moment,  Norman  may  be 
said  to  have  ceased  to  exist,  and  everything  was 
built  in  that  Transition  style  which  Edmund  Sharpe 
so  aptly  termed  "  the  tomb  of  the  Romanesque  and 
the  cradle  of  the  Gothic."  There  are,  however, 
other  eras  of  Transition,  for  the  styles  of  the  Middle 
Ages  were  perpetually  varying  to  suit  the  altering 
requirements  of  the  times ;  so  that  in  our  beautiful 
gradations  from  Norman  to  Perpendicular,  in  which 
the  germ  of  each  development  is  to  be  discovered 
in  the  antecedent  work,  we  have  an  unbroken 
sequence  of  buildings  affording  an  endless  source 
of  study. 

The  Transition,  par  excellence,  is,  however,  that 
from  the  Anglo-Norman  to  the  pure  Early  Pointed, 
free  from  any  trace  of  Romanesque  influence,  but  the 
change  was  so  gradual  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to 
say  when  one  style  left  off  and  another  began,  the 
round  arch  dying  much  harder  in  some  districts 
than  in  others. 

The  Transition  was  not  the  invention  of  any  one 
mind,  nor  an  importation  from  any  foreign  country, 
but  the  gradual  work  of  many  minds,  and  of  more 
than  one  generation,  assisted  by  hints  and  ideas 
taken  from  many  different  sources  and  different 
countries  with  which  the  people  had  the  opportunity 
of  friendly  intercourse.     In    England  the  period   of 


14         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Transition  occupied  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  H.,  a  long  and  peaceful  one,  which  led  to 
much  friendly  intercourse  between  the  dominions 
of  that  sovereign  in  France  and  our  own  country. 
It  was  productive — besides  the  choir  of  Canterbury 
Cathedral — of  some  of  our  most  graceful  and  valuable 
specimens  of  architecture,  as,  for  instance,  the  transepts 
of  Ripon,  the  western  tower  and  transept  of  Ely, 
the  western  transept  of  Peterborough,  the  nave  of 
Malmesbury,  portions  of  Fountains,  Kirkstall,  Glaston- 
bury and  Buildwas  Abbeys,  New  Shoreham  Church, 
Sussex,  the  retrochoir  of  Chichester  Cathedral,  the 
two  western  bays  of  the  nave  at  Worcester,  and 
"  The  Round  "  of  the  Temple  Church,  London. 

We  now  approach  that  new  and  glorious  epoch 
in  church  architecture  commencing  with  the  last 
decade  of  the  twelfth  century,  when  an  age  of 
church  building  zeal  and  devotion  seems  to  have 
revelled  and  expatiated  in  the  luxury  of  the  newly 
developed  Pointed  system.  Now  the  whole  contour 
and  composition  of  buildings  is  changed  from  heavy 
to  light,  from  low  to  lofty,  from  horizontal  to  vertical, 
one  might  almost  say  from  earthly  to  heavenly. 
Vigour  and  boldness,  combined  with  lightness 
characteristic  of  a  greater  freedom  of  thought  and 
of  action,  distinguishes  the  buildings  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  for  the  men  who  created  them  obtained 
Magna  Charta. 

In  the  thirteenth-century  architecture  of  France 
and  Germany  we  are  constantly  meeting  something 
we  have  seen  before.  But  in  English  work  of  the 
same  period  the  vivid  and  varied  impression  produced 
in  beholding  such  an  infinite  variety  of  detail  and 


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^     CATHEDRAL. 

INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  15 

general  expression  is  much  more  strongly  marked — 
the  Early  English  of  Salisbury  differing  as  widely 
from  that  of  Wells,  Llandaff  and  Berkeley,  as  do 
both  these  schools  from  that  of  the  Yorkshire 
minsters. 

With  the  progress  of  the  century,  new  and 
more  beautiful  features  were  introduced,  observable 
generally  in  exuberance  of  ornament,  and  particularly 
in  fenestration,  and  by  the  time  the  century  had 
entered  upon  its  eighth  decade  England  had  become 
covered  with  new  buildings,  and  additions  to  old 
ones  presenting  a  series  of  works  illustrative  of  the 
most  perfect  period  of  Christian  architecture — speci- 
mens of  the  art  exactly  at  that  point  of  perfection 
at  which  nothing  on  earth  is  permitted  to  stop — 
after  the  bud  and  before  the  rankness,  the  flower  just 
blown.  Examples  of  this  glorious  epoch,  which  may 
roughly  be  said  to  have  extended  from  1200  to  1350, 
crowd  upon  us,  but  it  is  impossible  within  the  limits 
of  this  sketch  to  do  more  than  mention  such  gems  of 
the  earlier  phase  as  the  cathedrals  of  Salisbury  and 
Wells,  the  choir,  transepts,  and  nave  of  Lincoln,  the 
choir  of  Worcester,  the  presbytery  of  Ely,  and  the 
transepts  of  York ;  and  of  the  later  one,  the  Angel 
choir  of  Lincoln  Cathedral,  the  north  transept  and 
tower  of  Hereford,  the  tower  and  spire  of  Salisbury, 
the  nave  and  Lady  Chapel  of  Lichfield,  the  Chapter- 
house and  Lady  Chapel  of  Wells,  the  choirs  of 
Carlisle  Cathedral  ^  and  Selby  Abbey,  Merton  College 
Chapel,  Oxford,  Patrington  Church  in  the  Holderness 
of  Yorkshire,  and  last,  though  by  no  means  least,  our 

1  See  frontispiece  to  this  volume. 


i6         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

typical  building  of  the  complete  Gothic  style — the 
Cathedral  at  Exeter. 

But  another  change  was  creeping  on,  swiftly  in 
some  localities,  more  slowly  in  others,  and  the  flowing 
lines  of  the  reticulated  phase  of  Middle  Pointed 
Gothic  were  yielding  to  the  rigid  ones  of  that  style 
which  was  the  outcome  of  our  insularity,  the  English 
of  the  English — the  Perpendicular. 

In  the  west  of  England,  and  particularly  at 
Gloucester — do  we  not  perceive  its  adumbration  in 
that  exquisite  series  of  windows  on  the  south  side 
of  the  nave  of  the  cathedral? — the  Perpendicular 
style  may  be  said  to  have  come  in  with  a  rush, 
quite  early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  with  little 
or  no  attempt  at  articulation  or  transition.  In  other 
parts,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  uniquely  interesting 
church  of  Edington  in  Wiltshire,  and  in  the  choir 
of  York  Minster,  the  change  was  much  more  gradual 
— being  chiefly  apparent,  not  only  here  but  else- 
where in  a  feature  which  more  than  any  other  was 
characteristic  of  all  the  styles — the  window.  That 
the  Perpendicular  exhibits  a  decline  in  art  it  is  idle 
to  deny,  yet  what  a  glorious  assemblage  of  buildings 
this  epoch  of  our  architecture  has  given  us.  To 
take  but  a  few  examples,  let  us  think  of  the  naves 
of  Canterbury  and  Winchester  Cathedrals  ;  of  New 
and  Magdalen  College  Chapels,  Oxford,  King's  at 
Cambridge,  St  George's  at  Windsor,  and  Henry  VII.'s 
at  Westminster ;  of  such  churches  as  Louth,  St  Mary 
Redclyffe,  Bristol,  St  Peter  Mancroft,  Norwich,  St 
Michael,  and  Holy  Trinity,  Coventry ;  of  such 
towers  as  Gloucester,  Canterbury,  and  Magdalen 
College,  Oxford,  and  of  that  noble  series  with  which 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  17 

the  western  counties  are  so  liberally  endowed,  St 
Stephen's,  Bristol,  Wrington,  St  Cuthbert's,  Wells, 
Glastonbury,  North  Petherton,  Huish  Episcopi, 
Kingsbury  and  Bishop's  Lydiard ;  of  Chipping 
Camden,  Probus,  Wrexham,  and  the  Huntingdon- 
shire, St  Neots. 

Then,  too,  the  Perpendicular  epoch  was  pre- 
eminently the  one  of  church  furniture  and  embellish- 
ment, for  it  gave  us  the  graceful  choir  stalls  of 
Beverley,  Carlisle,  Chester,  Lincoln,  Manchester 
and  Ripon ;  the  splendid  timber  roofs,  screens  and 
bench  ends  of  those  East  and  West  Anglian 
churches  that  are,  one  may  say,  veritable  lanterns 
for  the  display  of  stained  glass  which  by  the  middle 
of  the  fifteenth  century  had  reached  its  acme.  It 
gave  us  those  chantries  whose  sumptuousness 
makes  us  almost  overlook  Bishop  Lucy's  graceful 
Early  English  retrochoir  at  Winchester,  and  those 
towering  altar  -  pieces  that  so  grandly  close  the 
vistas  of  Winchester,  St  Alban's,  Christchurch,  St 
Saviour's,  Southwark,  and  All  Souls'  Chapel,  Oxford. 

What  a  magnificent  architectural  spectacle  England 
must  have  presented  with  the  union  of  the  Houses 
of  York  and  Lancaster,  in  the  person  of  Henry  VH., 
at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  ! 

That  the  Reformation  acted  as  a  heavy  blow  and 
great  discouragement  to  ecclesiastical  art  in  this 
country  is  an  indisputable  fact.  It  is  true  a  decline 
is  perceptible  in  works  undertaken  towards  the  con- 
clusion of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  yet  the  embellish- 
ment of,  and  additions  to,  churches  of  every  grade 
was  prosecuted  with  unabated  ardour  up  to  the  first 
thirty  years  or  so  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  when 

B 


i8         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

the  art  received  that  sudden  and  decided  check  from 
which  it  has  only  recovered  within  the  memory  of 
many  yet  living. 

Abroad,  the  Pointed  styles  became  vitiated  much 
sooner  than  with  us,  and  if  it  be  true  that  the 
dissolution  of  the  English  monasteries  checked 
church  building  and  restoration,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  fewer  remains  of  the  Middle  Ages  would 
have  been  handed  down  to  us  had  they  remained. 

Church  restoration  and  embellishment  would  have 
been  prosecuted  with  all  the  old  activity,  but  many 
of  our  great  churches  would  have  been  irreparably 
disfigured ;  and  mediaeval  Oxford,  for  example, 
Italianised  throughout.  Fortunately,  love  for  old 
Pointed  architecture  died  very  hard  in  England,  and 
in  the  few  churches  and  college  chapels  built  between 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  and  the  commencement  of 
the  eighteenth  centuries,  the  decorative  features  of 
the  Pointed  edifices  are  really  excellent,  while  the 
classic  element  introduced  gives  them  not  only  an 
unusual  grace  but  a  considerable  amount  of  historic 
interest.  Charming,  too,  is  the  semi-ecclesiastical 
character  of  many  an  old  mullioned  house  in  Dorset, 
Gloucestershire,  Northants,  Somerset  and  Wilts. 

The  Great  Fire  of  London  opened  up  a  series  of 
splendid  possibilities  for  the  genius  of  Sir  Christopher 
Wren,  whose  city  churches  have  one  special  value  to 
Londoners,  and,  indeed  to  all  Englishmen — let  me 
say,  to  all  English-speaking  peoples  throughout  the 
globe  —  because  they  are  Wren's  churches.  Sir 
Christopher  Wren,  taking  him  precisely  as  he  was, 
is  to  us  as  no  other  architect  has  ever  been,  either 
here  or  elsewhere;   and  his  churches,  taking  them 


c 


ANTERBURY      . 
CATHEDRAL. 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  19 

for  just  what  they  are  worth,  are  works  of  architecture 
such  as  no  other  city  in  the  world  has  ever  possessed, 
or  probably  ever  will  possess.  In  a  word,  Sir 
Christopher  Wren  is  the  pride  of  London.  Nor  is 
this  all,  for  the  glory  which  Englishmen  at  large 
associate  with  the  name  and  fame  of  their  great 
architect  is  even  greater  than  parochial  pride,  and 
all  regard  themselves  citizens  of  London  when  the 
ownership  of  St  Paul's  and  its  satellites,  as  a  unique 
cluster  of  artistic  gems,  is  in  question. 

To  be  sure,  these  city  churches  of  Wren  are  of 
unequal  merit,  and  some  are  far  less  ornate  as 
regards  their  decorative  features  than  others,  but  for 
this  one  can  hardly  hold  Wren  responsible,  much 
depending  upon  the  condition  of  the  parish  whose 
church  he  was  called  upon  to  rebuild. 

At  any  rate,  there  is  not  one  of  the  humblest  of 
them  in  which  some  artistic  feature  has  not  been 
introduced,  and  when  we  recollect  the  large  amount 
of  work  Wren  had  in  hand  all  over  the  country,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  the  design  of  these  city 
churches  of  his,  as  a  whole,  was  only  equalled  in  its 
ever-present  grace  by  its  constant  variety,  and,  indeed, 
unstinted  originality.  I  may  almost  say  of  Wren's 
city  churches  that  his  instinct  of  graceful  proportion 
never  failed  him,  and  that  no  subsequent  efforts  of 
English  architects  have  ever  equalled  his  excellence. 
Indeed,  I  can  say  for  myself  that  when  I  cross  the 
bridges  spanning  the  Thames  after  any  foreign  travel, 
and  behold  the  dome  of  St  Paul's  surrounded  by  those 
towers  and  spires  whose  varied  outline  must  be  for 
ever  a  source  of  the  most  delightful  study,  my  pride 
in    the  ecclesiastical  architecture  of  London  is   not 


20         CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

lessened  by  contrast  with  what  I  have  been  seeing 
elsewhere. 

In  such  buildings  as  he  was  compelled  to  raise  in 
the  Pointed  style,  Wren  was  less  successful. 

The  spirit  was  extinct,  and  all  its  traditions 
departed  and  forgotten,  alike  by  architects  and 
workmen.  His  detail,  therefore,  as,  for  instance, 
that  in  the  roof  of  St  Mary,  Aldermary,  offends  us 
now,  while  the  tower  of  St  Michael's,  Cornhill,  will 
perhaps  be  overlooked  by  the  purist  as  an  utter 
barbarism,  yet  its  otherwise  "  unprofitable  magni- 
ficence" has  its  peculiar  use,  as  showing  us  to  what 
extent  it  is  possible  to  compensate  for  deficiency 
of  purity  in  the  minor  parts  by  careful  adjustment  of 
their  composition  and  arrangement.  In  all  probability 
had  he  lived  at  the  present  day,  when  styles  are  so 
well  classified  and  defined,  and  when  there  is  an 
abundance  of  workmen  capable  of  executing  detail, 
and  when  all  appliances  and  means  are  ready  to 
hand,  Wren  would  have  excelled  as  much  in  Gothic 
as  in  classic  art. 

The  eras  of  Anne  and  the  early  Georges  not  only 
introduced  those  admirable  town  houses,  which  with 
their  white-sashed,  segmental-headed  windows  are 
the  most  practical  for  our  present  wants,  but  gave  us 
such  grandiose  specimens  of  church  architecture  from 
the  hands  of  Flitcroft,  Gibbs,  Hawksmoor,  and  James 
as  St  Giles  -  in  -  the  -  Fields,  St  Martin's,  Trafalgar 
Square,  St  Mary,  Woolnoth,  St  George,  Hanover 
Square,  and  St  Philip's,  Birmingham,  so  lately  raised 
to  cathedral  rank. 

We  who  go  about  the  country  now,  and  observe 
the  order  and  beauty  almost  everywhere  pervading 


INTRODUCTORY   SKETCH  21 

our  cathedral  and  parish  churches,  can  form  but 
little  idea  of  the  condition  in  which  they  were  during 
the  later  Hanoverian  and  early  Victorian  periods, 
save  from  books  or  hearsay. 

Speaking  more  particularly  of  the  cathedrals, 
neglect  and  melancholy  brooded  over  these  magni- 
ficent piles.  Time  and  damp,  moth  and  rust,  were 
doing  their  work.  The  transient  visits  of  pluralist 
dignitaries  allowed  them  small  chance  to  gain  the 
affection  or  even  the  regard  of  their  masters.  Except 
a  few  zealous  antiquaries  the  world  outside  cared 
even  less  for  them  than  their  ministers  within. 

Zeal  and  devotion  had,  in  a  great  measure,  been 
stamped  out  by  the  Reformation.  The  short  reign 
of  splendour  enjoyed  by  the  Church  of  England 
under  the  first  two  Stuarts  was  rudely  interrupted  by 
Puritan  sacrilege  and  irreverence,  and  but  imperfectly 
repaired  at  the  Restoration.  The  Protestantism 
which  came  in  with  William  HI.  robbed  religion  of 
all  its  attractions.  Lethargy  supervened,  and  the 
busy  world  lost  interest  in  their  churches,  and  thus 
these  once  fair  minsters,  despoiled,  defaced,  dis- 
honoured, suffered  from  sheer  apathy  and  neglect ; 
for,  beyond  the  keeping  of  them  from  falling  into 
actual  ruin,  their  guardians,  with  one  or  two  notable 
exceptions,  did  little  or  nothing  towards  their  em- 
bellishment, which,  when  we  reflect  upon  the  religious 
taste  of  the  later  Hanoverian  epoch,  was  perhaps 
fortunate. 

But — except  during  the  gloomy  period  of  the 
Puritan  ascendency — the  daily  offering  of  prayer 
and  praise  has  never  ceased  in  our  cathedrals,  even 
during  the  coldest  da^s  of  the  eighteenth  century. 


22         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

And  this  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  a  very 
important  era  in  our  little  sketch,  and  one  which, 
in  visiting  cathedrals  and  churches  at  the  present  day, 
we  must  of  necessity  learn  something  about.  I  refer 
to  what  is  called  "  The  Gothic  Revival,"  a  movement 
which,  whatever  may  have  been  the  faults — aye,  and 
the  follies — committed  during  its  progress,  must  on 
the  whole  be  looked  upon  as  a  new  and  goodly 
reformation,  which,  as  an  eminent  art  critic  has  very 
justly  observed,  "  caused  no  rivalry  but  that  of 
devotion,  and  which  effected  no  change  but  one  from 
meanness  to  beauty,  and  from  heartlessness  to  love." 

The  decay  of  our  religious  edifices  was  once  a 
witness  against  us,  yet  their  restoration  testifies  that 
life  is  not  extinct,  that  with  all  the  struggles,  changes, 
rises  and  falls  of  our  religious  history,  still  the  life 
of  God  is  in  the  Church,  and  still  the  Church's  life 
is  in  the  land. 

Another  permanent  influence  of  this  great  move- 
ment is  to  be  found  in  the  vast  wave  of  antiquarian, 
artistic,  architectural,  romantic  sentiment  which  has 
passed  not  only  over  England,  but  over  the  whole 
of  Europe,  as  a  reaction  partly  against  the  French 
Revolution,  but  partly  also  against  the  false  taste 
of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  which 
the  Revolution  overthrew. 

It  appeared  in  England  in  the  revival  (headed 
by  the  Quaker  Rickman)  of  the  feeling  for  Gothic 
architecture  which  had  in  the  previous  ages  entirely 
died  out  of  the  heart  and  mind  of  Europe ;  in  the 
growth  of  numerous  archaeological  societies ;  in  the 
rise  of  countless  churches  ;  in  the  reproduction,  such 
as  would   have  caused  a  shudder  in  our  Stuart  or 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  23 

Georgian  ancestors,  of  the  style  of  Henry  VH.'s 
chapel  throughout  the  great  Palace  of  Westminster ; 
in  the  awakening  of  popular  interest  in  our  cathedrals, 
in  the  special  services  which  fill  their  naves,  and  in 
the  decent  celebration  of  cathedral  and  parochial 
worship,  where  once  all  was  squalor  and  neglect. 

It  appeared  in  the  Roman  Catholic  churches 
through  the  protests  made  by  Pugin  in  favour  of 
the  mediaeval  style  against  the  rococo  and  mere- 
tricious ornaments  of  the  Italian-made-easy  system. 

Even  Nonconformity  caught  the  infection.  It 
appeared  in  the  Oriental  Church  through  the 
reverence  which,  under  Philaret,  the  venerable 
Metropolitan  of  Moscow,  had  everywhere  drawn 
back  the  sympathy  of  the  Russian  clergy  and  laity 
from  the  pseudo-classic  innovations  of  Peter  the 
Great  and  Catherine,  to  the  older  Byzantine  forms 
of  Ivan  III. 

It  appeared  in  France  in  the  passion  for  restora- 
tion, which,  beginning  under  Louis  Philippe  with 
Lassus,  Viollet-le-Duc,  Didron  and  Montalembert  as 
its  leaders,  has,  almost  to  excess,  rehabilitated  every 
monument  of  antiquity  even  in  that  most  changeful 
of  nations. 

It  appeared  in  Germany  chiefly  under  the  fostering 
care  of  the  Catholic  Louis  I.  of  Bavaria,  and  the 
Protestant  William  III.  and  IV.  of  Prussia,  as 
evidenced  in  the  Chapel  Royal  of  All  Saints  and  the 
basilica  of  St  Boniface  at  Munich  ;  in  the  restoration 
of  cathedrals,  minsters  and  churches  throughout 
the  country ;  in  the  completion  of  the  steeples 
at  Ratisbon  and  Ulm  ;  and  above  all,  in  the 
resumption    of    the    works    at     the    cathedral     of 


24         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Cologne,  which  had  remained  in  abeyance  for  three 
centuries. 

I  shall  not,  I  trust,  be  accused  of  partiality  when 
I  state  that  the  Englishman,  both  clerical  and  lay, 
has,  generally  speaking,  taken  a  far  more  intelligent 
interest  in,  and  more  completely  mastered  the 
artistic  and  architectural  study  of  ecclesiology, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad,  than  the  Frenchman  or 
the  German.  Abroad,  the  people  have  been  taught 
to  look  to  the  State  as  the  conservator  and  restorer 
of  ancient  buildings.  With  us,  on  the  contrary,  all 
this  has  been  accomplished  by  public  and  individual 
munificence,  so  that,  by  being  constantly  invited  to 
aid  in  their  reparation  and  embellishment,  we  are 
enabled  to  evince  a  far  greater  interest  in  our 
churches,  whether  diocesan,  collegiate  or  parochial, 
than  our  neighbours  on  the  Continent. 

It  is  an  acknowledged  truism  to  affirm  nowadays 
that  no  mere  admiration  or  superficial  imitation 
would  have  led  to  the  revival  of  the  ancient 
architecture  of  England  after  its  long  sleep  from 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  to  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  And  yet,  such  credit  do  great 
men  obtain,  even  for  their  slightest  accomplishments, 
it  is  perhaps  as  prevailing  an  error  to  suppose  that 
Horace  Walpole  was  a  skilful  amateur  architect,  as 
that  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  an  exact  and  deeply-read 
antiquary. 

Repeatedly,  since  the  revival  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, has  the  credit  been  assigned  to  Walpole  of 
having  led  the  van  in  that  great  movement.  That 
he  admired  it  we  know  well,  and  also  that  he 
attempted  to  imitate  it,  and  thus,  in  some  degree, 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  25 

served  to  keep  alive  that  love  of  old  Pointed  forms 
which,  although  it  smouldered  for  a  long  time,  was 
never  permitted  to  die  out  in  England,  as  it  so 
completely  did  on  the  Continent.  But  to  those  who 
have  studied  the  subject  in  another  spirit,  if  not  to 
the  world  at  large,  it  is  equally  obvious  that  no 
amount  of  such  admiration  or  imitation  could,  by 
any  efforts,  have  emulated  the  glorious  works  of  the 
Quivils,  the  Thoresbys,  the  Wykehams,  and  the 
Waynfletes  of  former  ages.  England  might  have 
been  covered  with  Gothic  abbeys  and  priories ; 
but  had  an  Ashridge,  or  even  a  Fonthill,  been  raised 
in  every  county,  we  should  still  have  made  but 
very  slight  progress. 

One  might  as  well  say  that  George  IV.  set  the 
example  of  true  Oriental  architecture  in  that  most 
melancholy  of  all  faded  places,  the  Pavilion  at 
Brighton,  or  that  Sir  Robert  Chambers  founded 
a  school  of  Chinese  architecture  by  his  pagoda  at 
Kew,  as  that  any  useful  step  towards  the  revival  of 
Pointed  architecture  was  made  by  the  elegantly 
selfish  author  of  "  The  Castle  of  Otranto."  It  may 
be  admitted,  indeed,  that  Walpole  was  the  founder 
of  a  school  of  "  Gothic,"  long  since  exploded,  but 
which  has  left  its  traces  in  St  Paul's,  Bristol,  St  Mary, 

.Tetbury,  St   Swithin's,  East   Grinstead,  and   sundry 
)roprietary  chapels  in  fashionable  watering-places. 
The    first    effective    labourer    in    the    revival    of 

[English  architecture  was,  undoubtedly,  John  Carter, 
in  enthusiastic  antiquary  of  George  III.'s  reign,  who 
^ent  about  the  country  sketching,  measuring,  and 
lescribing  every  ancient  building  that  he  saw.  The 
Jociety   of  Antiquaries,  recognising   his   delineative 


26         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

skill  and  knowledge  of  architecture,  employed  him 
to  etch  many  of  the  views  of  ancient  buildings 
published  under  their  direction ;  whilst  his  own 
effective,  though  not  minutely  accurate,  drawings 
and  etchings  did  much  towards  educating  public  taste 
in  the  same  direction.  But  John  Carter  wielded  the 
pen  with  equal  facility,  for  between  1798  and  181/) 
there  appeared  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine^  under 
the  title  "  Pursuits  of  Architectural  Innovation,"  a 
series  of  letters  calling  the  attention  of  Deans  and 
Chapters,  in  a  most  trenchant  fashion,  to  the 
degraded  state  into  which  the  noble  buildings 
confided  to  their  care  had  been  permitted  to 
lapse. 

Upon  James  Wyatt,  who  at  that  time  was  sweep- 
ing with  his  besom  of  destruction  over  Durham, 
Hereford,  Lichfield  and  Salisbury — levelling  bell- 
towers  and  chantries,  denuding  windows  of  stained 
glass,  obliterating  roof  decorations,  and  removing 
altars  from  their  legitimate  positions,  the  anger  of 
John  Carter  fell  with  especial  severity,  and  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  many  a  beautiful  fragment  of 
mediaeval  art  owes  its  preservation  to  the  enthusiasm 
and  knowledge,  far  in  advance  of  his  age,  of  this 
truly  remarkable  personage. 

Wyatt  had  another  formidable  opponent  in  that 
most  zealous,  and,  as  far  as  his  day  permitted,  learned 
antiquary,  Dr  Milner — Bishop  in  partibus  of  Casta- 
bala,  and  Vicar  Apostolic  of  the  Midland  district 
from  1803  to  1826.  Writing,  not  with  the  fiery 
enthusiasm  of  a  religious  convert  like  Pugin  nearly 
half  a  century  later,  but  with  the  sober  judgment 
of    an    antiquary    and     the    courtesy    of   an    old- 


INTRODUCTORY   SKETCH  27 

fashioned  Roman  Catholic,  Milner  recorded  his 
protest  against  Wyatt's  injudicious  meddling  in  a 
pamphlet  entitled,  "A  Dissertation  on  the  Modem 
Style  of  Altering  our  Cathedrals,  as  exemplified  in 
the  Cathedral  of  Salisbury" — where,  it  may  be 
remembered,  the  altar  had  been  removed  from  its 
legitimate  position,  within  the  centre  of  the  three 
arches  closing  the  choir,  to  the  extreme  east  end 
of  the  Lady  Chapel. 

The  next  merit  is  due  to  John  Britton,  who,  in 
his  "  Architectural  Antiquities  of  England,"  and  that 
noble  series  of  monographs  on  fifteen  of  our 
cathedrals  published  between  18 14  and  1835,  did 
more  than  any  man  of  his  day  and  generation  to 
preserve  and  explain  those  buildings  in  which  we 
have  so  goodly  an  heritage. 

With  ecclesiology  in  its  most  technical  sense, 
Britton  had  little  sympathy  or  acquaintance,  although 
he  lived  to  see  the  full  development  of  its  study,  and 
modern  research  has  doubtless  discovered  many  flaws 
in  these  works.  We  must  therefore  regard  them 
leniently  as  illustrations,  not  only  of  what  zeal  and 
industry  with  moderate  talents  and  without  academic 
learning  may  effect,  but  of  diligent  observation, 
pleasure  in  the  beauties  of  architecture,  and  reverence 
for  the  spirit  of  antiquity.  And  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  these  sumptuously  illustrated  works  were 
among  the  earliest  of  the  causes  which  led  to  that 
revival  of  the  True  Principles  of  Church  Architecture, 
of  which  we,  to-day,  are  reaping  so  abundant  a 
harvest  Not  only  was  John  Britton  born  with  an 
ardent  love  for  whatever  is  beautiful  in  architecture 
or  venerable  in  point  of  antiquity,  he  possessed^  at 


28        CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

the  same  time,  the  very  rare  faculty  of  bringing  those 
particular  men  about  him  who  could  most  efficiently 
aid  him  in  his  labours.  Thus  he  introduced  W.  M. 
Bartlett,  Edward  Blore,  George  Cattermole,  Frederick 
Mackenzie  and  Charles  Wild,  most  admirable  of 
architectural  draughtsmen ;  and  Cleghorn,  the 
brothers  John  and  Henry  Le  Keux,  Turrell,  and 
Woolnoth,  most  inimitable  of  engravers  to  the 
illustration  of  his  "Antiquities,"  and  it  is  with 
renewed  delight  that  we  turn  ever  and  anon  to 
these  treasuries  of  old  Gothic  art,  embellished  as 
they  are  with  the  handiwork  of  men,  compared  with 
whom  the  faithful  Hollar  is  faithless. 

The  first  cathedral  monographed  by  John  Britton 
was  Salisbury.  This  appeared  in  1814,  and  although 
its  indefatigable  author  survived  the  publication  of 
the  last  one — Worcester,  which  came  out  in  1835 — 
twenty-one  years,  he  did  no  more,  being  constrained 
to  relinquish  his  undertaking  on  the  ground  of  want 
of  public  support,  its  sale  not  repaying  the  expenses 
appropriated  to  its  execution.  The  mania  for  such 
cheap  publications  as  "  Winkles'  Cathedrals "  had 
then  lately  set  in,  the  promoters  of  that  work 
depreciating,  in  an  arrogant  and  injudicious  prospectus, 
the  works  of  more  intelligent  labourers  in  the  same 
field,  while  garbling  whole  passages  from  their  works 
without  acknowledgment,  and  taking  no  trouble  to 
correct  their  inaccuracies. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  early  part  of  the  last 
century,  when  not  only  the  true  principles  of  church 
architecture  and  arrangement  had  been  completely 
forgotten,  but  when  ecclesiasticism  in  almost  every 
shape  had  reached  its  bathos,  should  have  witnessed 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH  29 

the  publication  of  some  of  the  most  princely  works 
ever  issued  from  the  English  press  on  mediaeval 
antiquities.  Besides  those  of  John  Britton  may  be 
named  Charles  Wild's  fine  folios  on  the  cathedrals 
of  Lincoln  and  Worcester,  published  in  1819  and 
1823  respectively;  John  Chessell  Buckler's  "Views  of 
Cathedral  Churches  in  England  and  Wales,"  also 
put  forth  within  those  years ;  Lyson's  "  Magna 
Britannia "  ;  Dawson  Turner's  "  Normandy,"  with 
illustrations  by  Cotman ;  his  "  Specimens  of  Archi- 
tectural Remains,  principally  in  Norfolk  "  ;  the  elder 
Pugin's  "  Antiquities  of  Normandy  "  ;  Neale's  "  West- 
minster Abbey,"  and  "  Views  of  the  most  Interesting 
Collegiate  and  Parochial  Churches  in  Great  Britain  " ; 
and  Sir  Henry  Ellis'  edition  of  Dugdale's  "Monasticon 
Anglicanum,"  with  the  etchings  of  John  Coney,  an 
artist  whose  execution  possessed  the  freedom  and 
delicacy  of  Piranesi,  without  his  occasional  obscurity 
and  coarseness. 

Such  works  as  these,  and  others  which  space 
precludes  me  from  alluding  to,  captivated  public 
attention  by  the  excellence  of  the  engravings  of 
our  antiquities. 

At  first  the  excitement  took  the  form  of  vag^e 
admiration,  for,  despite  the  theories  propounded  in 
them  about  the  origin  and  development  of  the 
Gothic  styles,  these  publications  had  little  or  no 
visible  effect  upon  our  ecclesiastical  architecture,  for 
when,  on  the  passing  of  the  "Million  Act"  in  1818, 
and  the  Church  of  England,  awaking  to  her 
responsibilities,  set  herself  in  earnest  to  provide  for 
the  spiritual  wants  of  a  rapidly-increasing  popula- 
tion,  it   found   the    architectural    profession    almost 


30         CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

entirely  unacquainted  with  the  principles  of  mediaeval 
church  architecture  and  arrangement. 

We  can  afford  to  smile  nowadays  at  the  efforts 
of  Barry,  Blore,  Savage  and  Vulliamy,  but  we  must 
recollect  that  when  these  men  were  in  practice,  the 
spirit  of  mediaevalism  had  been  almost  completely 
lost,  and  that  there  were  no  architectural  museums 
or  art  schools  such  as  have  of  late  years  been  scattered 
over  the  face  of  the  country  for  the  training  of 
artificers  in  the  correct  principles  of  stone  and  wood 
carving,  stained  glass,  and  so  forth. 

Yet  it  must  be  admitted,  that  in  spite  of  their 
architectural  solecisms  and  defective  arrangements 
such  works  as  St  Luke's,  Chelsea,  by  Savage,  and 
St  Paul's,  St  John's  and  Holy  Trinity  in  the  parish 
of  Islington,  by  Barry,  possess  a  greater  dignity  of 
outline  than  many  a  more  correct  church  built  at 
later  stages  of  the  revival. 

Thomas  Rickman  did  much  to  reduce  the  researches 
of  such  pioneers  as  Carter  and  Milner  to  a  com- 
pendium, and,  to  provide  what  was  most  keenly  felt 
by  the  architectural  student,  a  grammar  of  his  art, 
by  his  "Attempt  to  Discriminate  the  Styles  of 
English  Architecture,"  written  between  1812  and 
1 81 5  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  lectures  for  "Smith's 
Panorama  of  Sciences  and  Arts."  It  appeared  in 
a  volume  in  18 17,  being  noticed  by  the  Quarterly 
Review  as  "an  unostentatious  but  sensible  tract." 
Forming  as  it  did  the  first  systematic  treatise  on 
the  subject  of  Gothic  Architecture,  so  well  designed 
and  judicious  a  work  could  not  fail  to  ensure 
popularity,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  be  estimated 
only  by  the  number  of  editions  it  has  passed  through. 


INTRODUCTORY   SKETCH  31 

and  the  multitude  of  architectural  writers  who  have 
adopted  its  system  and  nomenclature. 

I  should  mention  that  Rickman  himself  designed 
several  churches,  very  creditable  for  the  time  both  as 
regards  detail  and  proportion,  perhaps  the  most  satis- 
factory being  St  George's,  Birmingham  (in  whose 
churchyard  the  architect  is  buried),  St  Matthew's, 
Bristol,  and  St  Stephen's,  Sneinton,  near  Nottingham. 

John  Henry  Parker  of  Oxford  has  a  just  claim  to 
be  considered  a  very  principal  promoter  of  the  revival 
of  Pointed  architecture  :  for  his  "  Introduction  "  and 
"  Glossary "  have  enjoyed  as  wide  a  circulation  as 
Rickman's  Treatise,  and  by  their  instructive  and 
beautifully  executed  engravings,  have  placed  this 
most  fascinating  study  within  the  capacities  of  the 
merest  tyro. 

I  conceive,  then,  that  I  am  justified  in  mentioning 
the  names  of  Carter,  Britton,  Rickman  and  Parker 
as  the  four  persons  who,  when  everything  had  to  be 
learnt  about  it,  chiefly  contributed  to  the  advance 
of  this  science.  Nor  must  the  names  of  others  be 
forgotten,  such  as  Professors  Whewell,  Willis,  and 
Freeman,  Augustus  Welby  Pugin,  J.  A.  and  Raphael 
Brandon,  Rev.  J.  L.  Petit,  Rev.  George  Aycliffe 
Poole,  F.  A.  Paley,  and  Edmund  Sharpe,  besides 
i  various  others  of  more  or  less  acumen  and  industry, 
^but  whose  writings  have  not  been  so  popular,  nor 
carried  on  with  such  continual  perseverance. 

The  period  that  witnessed  the  commencement  of 
the  labours  of  many  of  these  men — the  accession  of 
our  late  Queen — was  a  very  singular  one. 

The  ecclesiastical  revival,  both  in  theology  and  its 
architectural   expression,   to   which   I   have  already 


32         CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

alluded,  was  then  just  beginning.  Members  of  the 
two  Universities  were  working  for  the  same  end  in 
their  different  ways,  and  quite  independently  of  each 
other. 

The  Ecclesiologist,  a  periodical  remarkable  for  the 
moderate  tone  and  sound  common-sense  of  its  pages, 
was  the  mouth-piece  of  the  Cambridge  Camden 
Society,  with  John  Mason  Neale,  Benjamin  Webb, 
and  Beresford  Hope  as  its  leading  spirits ;  while  of 
the  Oxford  body,  John  Henry  Parker  was  the  guide, 
philosopher  and  friend. 

A  remarkable  instinct,  combined  with  good  sense 
and  other  gifts,  quietly  exercised  by  both  these 
Societies — but  particularly  that  of  Cambridge — made 
their  work  an  eminently  useful  one,  in  asserting 
principles,  exposing  shams,  and  restraining  the  ill- 
instructed  private  taste  and  judgment  which  have 
since  often  displayed  themselves  to  excess,  and  which 
the  excitable  spirit  of  the  day  has  naturally  favoured. 
When  these  two  Societies  were  first  started,  they  had 
to  fight  a  desperate  battle  against  overwhelming 
odds,  for  its  members  were,  generally  speaking, 
neither  grave  ecclesiastics  nor  practical  architects, 
but  simply  undergraduates  bringing  to  their  work  no 
little  of  the  petulance  of  youth  and  the  inexperience 
of  tyros. 

Still,  some  truths  had  been  grasped,  and  those 
truths  were  manipulated.  A  few  years  rolled  by,  and 
the  Societies  aggregated  so  many  allies  to  their  bodies, 
that  their  members  were  able  to  criticise  themselves, 
and  to  invite  the  world  to  do  the  same. 

Similar  architectural  associations  were  started  in 
various   parts   of  the   kingdom ;  certain    architects. 


INTRODUCTORY   SKETCH  33 

soon  to  earn  for  themselves  an  European  reputation, 
planned ;  committees  patronised ;  and  church  digni- 
taries and  lay-folk,  at  their  own  private  cost,  built 
churches  more  near  to  the  mediaeval  models  in  grace, 
richness,  and  truthfulness  of  design  than  could  have 
been  seen  for  three  centuries.  Besides  this,  all  the 
arts  ancillary  to  architecture  —  stone  and  wood 
carving,  mural  and  vitreous  decoration,  works  in  the 
precious  and  coarser  metals,  needlework,  music — 
made  slow  but  sure  progress,  and  thus  year  by  year 
that  great  spontaneous  movement  within  the  Church 
of  England  received  fresh  accessions  of  strength. 

The  reproach  which  was  constantly  being  hurled 
at  the  Church  of  England  that  she  has  inherited 
buildings  too  vast  for  her  shrunken  form,  erected  for 
another  form  of  devotion,  and  which  she  knows  not 
how  to  use,  can  be  urged  nowadays  with  little  or  no 
propriety. 

Year  by  year,  apart  from  their  embellishment  with 
various  works  of  art,  some  fresh  evidence  is  presented 
to  us  that  the  Church  duly  appreciates  the  worth  of 
these  noble  inheritances,  and  is  resolved  to  avail 
herself  of  them  to  the  utmost.  Indeed,  the  aspira- 
tion breathed  more  than  half  a  century  ago  by  John 
Mason  Neale  in  his  "  Hierologus "  has,  in  some 
instances,  been  realised  beyond  the  wildest  dreams 
of  that  eminent  scholar  and  priest  to  whom  English 
ecclesiology  owes  so  deep  a  debt  of  gratitude  : — 

"  Again  shall  long  processions  sweep  through  Lincoln's  Minster 
pile, 
Again  shall  banner,  cross,  and  cope  gleam  thro'  the  incensed 
aisle." 

That    Gothic    architecture    is    but    an    enduring 

C 


34         CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

expression  of  the  Christian  faith  is  a  trite,  but  not 
therefore  less  true  remark.  Without  faith,  art,  if  it 
enjoys  an  artificial  existence,  is  but  a  mockery  of  its 
better  self,  and  therefore  with  the  restoration  of  faith 
has  progressed  the  new  development  of  art,  and  so 
with  increased  firmness  of  faith  many  of  the  pro- 
moters of  its  revived  life  have  seen  Winchester  and 
York,  Salisbury  and  Durham  sharing  the  newer 
honours  of  younger  rivals. 


ii'l 


CHAPTER   II 


DURHAM 


As  the  train,  northward  bound,  emerges  from  the 
tunnel  just  before  entering  the  station  at  Durham, 
the  first  sight  of  its  cathedral — that  renowned  and 
ancient  seat  of  piety  and  learning — that  exemplar 
of  all  that  is  solemn  and  grand  in  early  post- 
Conquest  architecture,  and  standing  in  unspoiled 
massiveness  upon  its  wood -environed  and  tower- 
crowned  hill — 

"  Half  church  of  God,  half  castle  'gainst  the  Scot"— 
is  something  to  remember  through  one's  life. 

Few  English  cathedrals  afford  so  fine  a  scope 
for  architectural  illustration  as  Durham.  All  its 
works,  whether  of  the  original  design  or  subsequent 
additions,  are  among  the  best  examples  of  their 
kind.  Everything  in  it  that  is  ancient  is  upon  a 
scale  of  grandeur  and  magnificence  not  surpassed, 
even  if  they  are  equalled,  by  any  other  structure. 
The  church  of  a  Bishop  Palatine  who  ranked  with 

86 


36         CATHEDRALS    OF   ENGLAND 

the  princes  of  the  land,  who  raised  his  armies  and 
dispensed  justice  in  his  own  courts,  would  be 
expected  to  exhibit  in  its  architecture  a  degree  of 
splendour  commensurate  with  the  rank  of  the  prelate 
who  had  his  seat  within  the  walls.  We  see  such 
a  structure  in  the  cathedral  of  Durham.  Injured  by 
Puritan  violence ;  refitted  with  unusual  sumptuous- 
ness  shortly  after  the  Restoration ;  defaced  by  the 
despoiler  of  Salisbury  and  Hereford,  who,  in  his 
Georgian  conceitedness,  indulged  in  the  vain  hope 
that  he  could  improve  the  design  ;  and  again  spoilt 
by  an  early  Victorian  obliterator  of  historical  records, 
this  noble  fane  has  in  our  own  day  been  made 
to  reassume  some  of  its  pristine  magnificence  by 
careful  and  diligent  study  allied  with  refined  taste. 
During  the  Heptarchy  Durham  makes  no  figure 
in  history.  The  cathedral  church  was  at  Lindisfarne, 
where  it  had  been  founded  as  early  as  A.D.  635.  In 
883  the  bishop  and  his  clergy  took  up  their  abode 
at  Chester-le-Street  {a  castrum  in  vico  of  the  Romans), 
where  they  remained  until  995,  when,  on  an  invasion 
of  the  Danes,  the  then  bishop  and  the  monks 
became  wanderers  with  the  body  of  St  Cuthbert. 
After  several  migrations,  the  natural  advantages 
of  Durham  induced  them  to  select  its  then  wood- 
land solitudes  for  their  final  abode,  and  in  999 
Aldhuin,  the  first  bishop  on  the  settlement  at 
Durham,  caused  a  cathedral  to  be  consecrated  on 
that  spot,  where,  three  years  before,  the  body  of 
St  Cuthbert  had  been  brought.  A  century  had 
scarcely  elapsed  when  this  Saxon  fabric  gave  way 
before  the  great  Norman  impulse  —  William  de 
Carileph,  Bishop  of  Durham,  a   native  of  Bayeux, 


DURHAM  37 

Justiciary  of  England  in  1088,  and  the  first  great 
benefactor  of  the  See,  laying  the  foundations  of  those 
Norman  portions  which  so  impressed  Dr  Johnson 
on  his  way  to  Scotland  for  that  memorable  tour 
in  the  Hebrides,  as  to  call  forth  his  admiration 
in  the  words  "rocky  solidity  and  indeterminate 
duration." 

This  was  in  1092,  nine  years  after  the  introduction 
of  a  body  of  Benedictine  monks. 

Carileph,  who  died  only  two  years  afterwards,  did 
not  live  to  see  much  of  the  work  which  he  had  so 
nobly  begun,  completed,  but  it  made  rapid  progress 
at  the  eastern  end — the  building  of  the  choir  and 
apse  being  the  first  stage  of  work,  and  the  transepts 
and  the  first  two  bays  of  the  nave,  the  second. 

During  Ranulph  de  Flambard's  episcopate  (1099- 
II 28)  the  nave  was  carried  up  to  the  vaulting  and 
the  aisles  completely ;  and  although  there  is  no 
record  of  the  final  completion  of  the  church,  it 
must  have  been  finished  in  all  essentials  shortly 
after  that  date,  and  if  we  may  judge  from  a  drawing 
of  it  by  Mr  Robson,  for  many  years  architect  to 
the  Dean  and  Chapter,  it  must  have  presented,  with 
its  three  low  towers,  an  appearance  of  great  simplicity, 
yet  grandeur. 

The  plan  was  the  usual  one  of  a  Latin  cross, 
consisting  of  an  aisled  nave  with  triforium  and 
clerestory ;  of  a  transept  with  an  eastern  aisle, 
and  of  an  apsidal  choir  also  with  triforium  and 
clerestory,  the  whole  being  conceived  in  a  bold 
and  vigorous  style  of  Anglo-Romanesque  which  seems 
to  have  taken  root  in  this  region  of  Northumbria, 
and   differing   in    many   ways    from   that   employed 


SS         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

in  the  great  contemporary  East  Anglian  cathedrals 
of  Ely,  Norwich,  and  Peterborough,  where  in  the 
two  first  named  the  nave  arcade  is  comparatively 
low,  the  triforium  almost  equalling  it  in  height.  At 
Durham,  the  triforium  retires  into  comparative 
insignificance,  while  great  prominence  is  given  to 
the  arcades,  of  which  there  are  two  to  each  great 
vaulting  compartment,  except  in  the  first  nave  bay 
and  in  that  opening  into  the  north  and  south 
western  towers.  The  coupled  arches  rest  upon 
Cyclopean  columnar  piers  23  feet  in  girth,  all 
relieved  with  deeply  channelled  furrows,  vertical, 
zigzag  and  reticulated.  The  bases  of  these  isolated 
columns  are  12  feet  square,  while  the  clustered 
shafts  that  support  the  transverse  arches  of  the 
vaulting  and  their  diverging  ribs  cover  each  an 
area  of  225  square  feet. 

Originally  the  grand  entrance  to  the  church  was 
at  the  west  end,  but  about  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century  a  Lady  Chapel  was  built  out  from 
the  west  front,  after  a  failure  to  establish  one  at  the 
east  end,  by  the  celebrated  Bishop  Hugh  de  Puiset 
(or  Pudsey),  a  nephew  of  King  Stephen.  Although 
built  during  the  Transition  period  of  our  architecture, 
when  the  pointed  arch  and  other  graceful  details 
were  supplanting  the  bolder  Romanesque  ones, 
this  "  Galilee,"  as  it  is  now  styled  at  Durham,  has 
ornaments  and  round  arches  of  a  delicate  Norman 
character,  and  divided,  as  the  building  is,  into  five 
aisles  by  four  rows  of  these  arcades  some  most 
beautiful  cross  views  are  obtained,  reminding  one  of 
many-aisled  Cordova. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  Pudsey,  who  was  a 


DURHAM  39 

great  promoter  of  the  Transition  in  the  north  of 
England,  commenced  in  1155  with  the  once  half- 
destroyed  but  now  nobly  restored  Chapter-house,  a 
purely  Norman  work,  and  closed  with  the  erection 
of  St  Cuthbert's,  Darlington,  which  is  as  purely 
Pointed,  though  it  has  been  discovered  that  the 
greater  part  of  that  imposing  cruciform  church  is 
of  later  date,  in  which  it  would  appear  that  details, 
prepared  by  Pudsey,  who  died  before  the  church  had 
made  much  progress,  were  used  up. 

The  next  phase  in  the  architectural  history  of 
Durham  Cathedral  is  the  raising  of  the  towers.  In 
the  original  church  the  central  tower  rose  very  little 
higher  than  the  roofs,  and  was  crowned  by  a  short 
square  spire  springing  from  within  the  parapet,  while 
the  two  western  ones,  which  did  not  rise  beyond  the 
corbel  table  of  the  clerestory,  were  similarly  capped, 
the  spires  in  this  instance  being  flush  with  the  eaves. 

The  corbel  table,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  was 
continued  round  the  western  towers,  and  it  can  still 
be  seen  at  the  same  level  just  as  though  no  more 
masonry  were  intended  ;  and  looking  at  the  west 
front  we  can  still  see  at  each  side  of  a  very  rich 
arcade  of  Romanesque  work,  just  under  the  gable, 
small  projecting  blocks  of  the  same  colour,  forming 
little  staircase  turrets  for  access  to  the  roofs,  and 
which  formed  the  finish  to  the  stonework  of  the 
towers. 

I  presume  that  the  reason  for  the  lowness  of 
the  old  Norman  western  towers  at  Durham  was  a 
prudential  one,  the  rock  on  which  they  are  founded 
containing  here  and  there  a  stratum  of  less  solid 
kind.     However,  early    in    the    thirteenth    century, 


40         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

additional  grandeur  was  thought  desirable  for  the 
west  front,  and  so  the  square  spires  were  removed — 
the  wooden  plate  being  left  in  one  part  on  the  walls 
— and  a  storey,  enriched  on  each  face  with  Early- 
English  arcades,  added.  Tall  spires  of  light  material 
were  also  given. 

These  works,  although  their  actual  date  is  not 
recorded,  may  be  attributed  to  Richard  de  Marisco, 
who  became  bishop  in  12 17. 

Bishop  Farnham,  consecrated  in  1241,  raised  the 
central  tower,  but  his  work  underwent  so  complete 
a  rebuilding  in  the  fifteenth  century  that  not  a 
vestige  of  it  remains. 

With  the  year  1242  another  era  opens  in  the 
history  of  the  cathedral ;  for  then  it  was  that  the 
"new  fabric"  eastward  of  the  Norman  church  was 
commenced  by  Prior  Melsonby,  who  introduced  that 
feature  which  had  made  its  dibut  at  Canterbury 
over  a  century  before — the  eastern  transept — but 
which  in  this  instance  was  not  combined  as  there, 
and  at  Beverley,  Rochester,  and  Worcester  with  a 
projecting  eastern  limb,  but  made  to  form  a  portion 
of  one  vast  facade  lighted  by  nine  lancet  windows, 
an  arrangement  of  which  a  notable  example  remains 
at  Fountains. 

Internally  the  effect  of  this  great  eastern  transept, 
or,  as  it  is  generally  styled,  "  The  Chapel  of  the  Nine 
Altars,"  whose  blending  with  the  older  Norman 
portion  so  plainly  bespeaks  the  hand  of  a  master, 
is  truly  magnificent,  but  externally  it  has  a  some- 
what bald  and  flat  appearance,  for  which  the  scraping 
process  it  underwent  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  is  to  some  extent  answerable. 


DURHAM  41 

The  prelate,  under  whose  auspices  this  great  Early 
English  extension  was  contemplated,  was  Richard 
Poore,  who  had  been  translated  to  Durham  from 
Salisbury  in  1228. 

It  is  worthy  of  observation  that  several  portions  of 
our  cathedrals  are  popularly  and  very  conveniently 
attributed  to  the  bishops  during  whose  respective 
episcopates  they  were  erected.  This  is  scant  justice 
to  the  contemporary  deans  and  priors  with  their 
capitular  brethren.  Still,  it  has  this  advantage,  that 
it  invests  what  would  otherwise  be  dry  architectural 
history  with  something  of  the  interest  of  a  personal 
narrative.  And  this  interest  is  indeed  one  of  those 
things  which  impart  such  pleasure  to  the  ecclesi- 
ologist  in  his  studies,  that  he  who  first  opened  to 
us  the  full  relish  with  which  we  follow  out  our 
architectural  problem  through  all  its  branches  of 
date,  style,  person,  and  so  forth,  might  well  claim 
the  reward  offered  so  many  ages  ago,  and  never  yet, 
I  think,  adjudged  for  the  discovery  of  a  new  pleasure. 

Thus,  it  is  something  to  know  that  "The  Nine 
Altars  "  of  Durham  Cathedral  was  commenced  just 
as  the  cathedral  of  Salisbury  was  hastening  to 
completion ;  but  it  is  yet  more  interesting  to  know 
that  the  same  Bishop  Poore  who  founded  Salisbury, 
being  translated  to  Durham,  pursued  his  architectural 
tastes  at  the  other  end  of  the  kingdom. 

Forty  years  were  occupied  in  the  erection  of  this 
noble  piece  of  Early  English  work,  and  during  that 
time  the  Lancet  phase  of  that  period  had  passed 
into  the  Geometrical  Decorated.  We  have  an 
indication  of  this  in  the  north  wall,  which,  when  it 
had   attained    the  level  of  the  sill  line,  its  whole 


42         CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

design  was  changed,  a  noble  window  with  Geometrical 
tracery  being  introduced  in  lieu  of  the  lancets  that 
had  been  employed  along  the  east  end  and  in  the 
opposite  transept. 

This  window  has  what  is  termed  an  inner  plane 
of  tracery,  that  is  to  say,  its  jambs  and  tracery  are 
repeated  at  the  distance  of  a  few  feet  on  the  inside 
— a  very  favourite  mode  of  treatment  with  architects 
at  this  period,  and  of  which  we  have  graceful 
examples  in  the  clerestory  of  the  choir  at  Hereford, 
in  the  transepts  at  Salisbury,  and  in  the  churches  of 
Stone  near  Dartford,  and  St  John  the  Baptist  at 
Winchester.  The  lights,  too,  are  made  very  wide, 
for  the  better  display  of  stained  glass,  which  was 
gradually  attaining  perfection. 

In  order  that  the  choir  offices  might  be  interrupted 
as  little  as  possible,  the  old  Norman  apse  was 
retained  until  the  completion  of  the  Chapel  of  the 
Nine  Altars,  or,  as  it  was  then  styled,  the  "  new 
fabric,"  c.  1280.^ 

Although  the  portion  linking  the  two  works  was 
in  progress  at  the  time  when  the  perfected  Gothic 

1  In  1862-63  a  careful  restoration  of  this  part  of  the  building 
was  effected  by  Messrs  Walton  and  Robson  of  Durham.  All 
the  old  shafts  of  fossil  marble  (some  containing  remarkable 
madrepores)  were  re-polished  by  machinery ;  and  where  this 
could  not  be  done  without  lessening  their  diameter,  or  where 
shafts  were  entirely  wanting,  these  were  renewed.  Broken 
bases  were  carefully  restored,  ruinous  neckings  to  caps  inserted 
in  stone,  and  although  much  mutilated,  the  sculpture  was 
untouched.  Whitewash  was  removed  by  potash  water  and 
Manchester  card,  and  the  whole  of  this  noble  specimen  of 
thirteenth-century  work  cleared  of  the  defilements  which  had 
so  long  disgraced  it,  and  its  great  beauty  brought  to  light 


DURHAM  43 

had  fully  assumed  sway,  it  is  not,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  completely  emancipated  from  the 
Lancet,  the  architect  selecting  such  features  from 
the  two  styles  as  suited  his  immediate  purpose  best. 

In  fact,  we  have  here  one  of  a  large  and  im- 
portant class  of  buildings,  such,  for  instance,  as  the 
Angel  Choir  of  Lincoln  Cathedral  and  the  nave  of 
Lichfield,  characterised  by  the  geometrical  forms 
of  their  window  tracery,  belonging  partly  to  the 
Early  English  and  partly  to  the  Decorated  styles, 
but  which  is  in  reality  distinct  from  both,  and  pre- 
eminently entitled,  from  the  number  and  beauty  of 
its  examples,  to  separate  classification. 

The  choir  consists  of  two  great  vaulting  bays,  sub- 
divided into  four  lesser  ones,  all  of  Romanesque 
work,  and  at  the  east  end  of  them  on  either  side, 
exactly  on  the  spot  whence  the  apse  radiated,  a  short 
wall  space  enriched  with  three  arcades  beneath 
gables,  immediately  above  which  is  a  group  of  short 
corbelled  shafts  sustaining  the  great  tranverse  arch 
of  the  vault  and  the  groining  ribs  that  branch  from  it. 
Then  beyond  it,  and  made  to  range  in  height  with  the 
Norman  work  to  the  west  of  it,  we  have  one  wide  bay 
of  great  beauty — a  richly  moulded  arch  springing 
from  slender  shafts,  with  vigorously  chiselled  capitals 
supporting  a  triforium  and  clerestory. 

The  former  is  pierced  with  a  triple  arcade  under  a 
somewhat  depressed  arch  ;  the  latter  has  two  pointed 
arches  enriched  with  dog-tooth  and  carried  on  grouped 
pillarets,  the  heads  of  these  lancets  (through  which 
the  clerestory  windows  are  seen  deeply  splayed),  in 
order  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  lines  of  the 
vaulting,  being   unequal,   the  outer  curve   taking   a 


44         CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

much  bolder  sweep  than  the  inner.  Thus,  a  line 
drawn  from  the  apex  of  either  lancet  arch  to  the  sill 
would  divide  the  latter  into  two  unequal  halves. 
But,  barring  this  little  eccentricity,  nothing  can  be 
more  graceful  than  the  manner  in  which  the  junction 
between  Carileph's  and  Poore's  work  has  been 
effected. 

The  belief  that  Prior  Melsonby  vaulted  the 
Norman  parts  of  Durham  Cathedral  between  1233 
and  1244  is  an  erroneous  one,  handed  down  to  us 
from  Browne  Willis,  who  wrote  early  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  But  the  evidence  of  the  structure  itself,  the 
analogy  of  the  vaulting  in  other  parts  of  the  church, 
and  the  light  of  modern  research,  have  proved  to  us 
that  the  groining  of  the  principal  spans  is  at  least  as 
early  as  the  episcopate  of  Pudsey.  The  remains  of 
the  great  church  at  Lindisfarne — analogous  in  many 
respects  to  Durham,  and,  on  a  small  scale,  that  at 
Warkworth,  in  Northumberland — may  be  cited  as 
instances  of  mid-twelfth-century  vaulting  in  which 
the  influence  of  the  great  Weir-side  Cathedral  is 
strongly  felt.  Thus  Durham  Cathedral  is  the  earliest 
complete  example  of  an  Anglo-Norman  church  whose 
builders  had  sufficient  temerity  to  vault  over  large 
spaces. 

The  fourteenth  century  left  its  impress  on  the 
church  chiefly  in  the  matter  of  some  large  windows, 
which,  although  beautiful  in  themselves,  have  robbed 
us  of  the  original  Norman  fenestration  of  those  parts 
into  which  they  were  introduced — the  facades  of  the 
west  end  and  north  transept.  They  were  the  work, 
between  1341  and  1374,  of  Prior  Fossor,  who,  so 
the  "  Anglia  Sacra "  informs  us,  "  construxit  in  Eccl 


LOOKINC    BAST 


D 


URHAM     .     .     . 
CATHKDRAL. 


DURHAM  45 

Dunelm,  J  magnam  fenestram  ex  parte  boreali, 
J  parvam  fenestram  ex  latere  illius,  et  J  parvam 
supra  altare."  This  refers  to  the  great  window  in 
the  north  transept  and  the  small  one  lighting  the 
north  end  of  its  eastern  aisle.  The  former  was, 
however,  entirely  reconstructed  by  Prior  Castell 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  but 
with  tracery  on  the  same  lines.  It  still  goes  by 
the  name  of  the  Doctors'  Window,  from  its 
stained  glass,  which  represents  figures,  inter  alia, 
of  Saints  Augustine,  Ambrose,  Gregory,  and 
Jerome  —  a  modern  reproduction  of  that  which 
originally  filled  it,  as  we  know,  from  the  cele- 
brated "  Rites  of  Durham." 

The  Late  Decorated  windows  in  the  south  aisle 
of  the  choir  are  Fossor's  work,  but  they  must  yield 
in  delicacy  and  refinement  to  his  first  essay  in  the 
style,  the  great  west  window,  which,  with  the 
eastern  ones  of  Carlisle,  Selby,  and  Heckington, 
and  the  western  one  of  York,  ranks  among  the 
finest  specimens  of  flowing  tracery  in  the  kingdom. 
To  the  same  century  we  owe  that  altar  screen, 
which  so  beautifully  breaks  the  vista  from  the  west 
end  of  the  building,  and  the  monument  of  Bishop 
Hatfield  (d.  1381)  on  the  south  side  of  the  choir, 
and  built  during  his  lifetime  to  serve  at  once  as  his 
tomb  and  as  an  episcopal  throne  for  his  successors. 

The  altar  screen  was  erected  in  1380,  chiefly  at  the 
cost  of  John,  Lord  Neville  of  Raby,  and  in  the  con- 
struction of  which  seven  masons  spent  a  year  under 
Prior  Berrington.  It  was,  however,  carved  in  London 
from  stone  brought  from  France,  and  although 
stripped  of   its  imagery  and  denuded  of  its  once 


46         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

brilliant  pigments,  it  is  still  a  superb  piece  of  Eariy 
Perpendicular  tabernacle  work.  Immediately  above 
the  altar  is  an  oblong  slab  of  Purbeck  marble  forming 
a  sort  of  retabulum,  and  over  which  we  know  rich 
embroidery  to  have  been  hung.  In  1849  this  was 
covered  by  a  bas-relief  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci's  famous 
Ccenacolo,  indifferently  executed,  and  out  of  scale 
with  its  surroundings.  During  the  restorations  of 
1873-76,  this  altar-piece  was  happily  removed,  and 
needlework  placed  there  again  with  excellent  effect. 

Still  further  alterations  took  place  in  the  fenestra- 
tion of  the  cathedral  in  the  fifteenth  century  under 
Prior  Wessington,  who  either  filled  all  the  Norman 
windows  with  Perpendicular  tracery  or  inserted 
entirely  new  ones  in  that  style.  The  great  lancets 
in  the  east  and  south  sides  were  all  treated  in  the 
same  way,  but  at  different  times  within  the  last 
century  these  interpolations  and  insertions  have  been 
removed,  and  all,  with  the  exception  of  those  in  the 
south-east  transept,  "  restored  "  back  again  to  their 
original  form,  though  whether  rightly  or  wrongly 
I  must  leave  each  individual  reader  to  judge  for 
himself. 

A  still  more  vexatious  meddler  was  Bishop 
Langley,  who  confined  his  operations  chiefly  to  the 
western  Galilee ;  giving  two  extra  shafts  to  all  its 
Late  Norman  columns,  inserting  new  windows  at  the 
west  end  of  the  central  avenue,  and  of  that  next  to  it 
on  either  side  ;  closing  up  the  great  western  doorway 
with  stone,  which  hitherto  had  remained  separate  from 
the  Galilee  by  its  own  wooden  doors ;  opening  new 
side  doors  into  the  cathedral  at  the  east  end  of  each 
of  its  outer  aisles;  re-roofing  the  chapel,  and  doing 


DURHAM  47 

other  things    that    he    had    much  better  have  left 
undone. 

The  great  achievement  of  the  Perpendicular  epoch 
at  Durham  was  the  nobly  contoured  central  tower, 
whose  outline,  as  far  as  the  belfry  stage,  recalls  that 
of  York.  Bishop  Farnham's  continuation  of  the  low 
Norman  tower  was  set  on  fire  by  lightning  in  1429, 
and  so  much  injured  as  to  need  extensive  and  costly 
reparation.  Little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
later,  it  was  again  in  a  perilous  condition,  upon  which 
its  "re-edification"  was  "begun,  but  not  finished,  in 
default  of  goods  as  God  knoweth,"  so  wrote  Prior  Bell 
in  1474.  This  refers  to  the  first  stage  of  the  tower 
which,  forming  a  lantern,  like  those  of  Canterbury, 
York,  Gloucester,  Lincoln,  and  St  David's,  is  open  to 
a  great  height  above  the  floor  of  the  church,  and  with 
marvellously  grand  effect.  The  upper  stage  built  for 
the  reception  of  the  bells,  which  had  been  previously 
lodged  in  the  north-west  tower,  is  a  much  later 
addition  of  the  same  period. 

Between  1859  and  1861  a  thorough  and  most 
careful  restoration  of  this  tower  was  carried  out  by 
Mr  E.  R.  Robson  of  Durham,  with  assistance  from 
Sir  Gilbert  Scott ;  the  latter,  on  examining  the 
summit  of  the  belfry  stage  exteriorly,  finding  certain 
marks  which  led  him  to  conjecture  that  it  was  in- 
tended to  finish  the  work  with  a  crown  imperial  like 
that  at  St  Nicholas,  Newcastle.  Wyatt  put  forth  a 
preposterous  design  for  a  spire,  which,  fortunately, 
came  to  nothing.  This  tower  was  formerly  rich  in 
statuary.  What  remained  of  it  when  the  work  of 
restoration  took  place  was  taken  down  and  most 
carefully  dealt  with,  and  saturated  with  shellac  before 


48         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

being  reinstated ;  the  missing  statuary  was  replaced 
by  new,  so  that  in  its  present  condition  this  central 
tower  of  Durham  Cathedral  is  certainly  a  true  restora- 
tion, and  one  that  has  not  deprived  its  original  outline 
of  any  single  feature. 

Before  the  Reformation  there  were  few  English 
cathedrals  in  which  the  ceremonial  of  its  services  was 
carried  out  with  greater  dignity  and  splendour  than 
Durham,  and  of  this  we  may  gain  some  idea  from 
the  description  given  us  in  one  of  the  most  valuable 
and  interesting  of  the  Surtees  Society's  publications, 
"  The  Rites  of  Durham."  This  account  is  a  treasure 
possessed  by  no  other  cathedral,  furnishing  us  as  it 
does  with  a  key  to  the  many  remains  of  decoration 
and  evidences  of  fittings  that  still  exist,  and  which, 
during  the  last  great  restoration  and  rearrangement 
of  the  fabric  undertaken  between  1870  and  1876,  was 
carefully  studied,  and  to  some  extent  scrupulously 
followed  by  those  engaged  in  the  task. 

But  shorn  as  they  were  of  their  splendour  at  the 
Reformation,  the  services  at  Durham  Cathedral  have 
always — excepting,  of  course,  during  the  Protectorate 
— been  carried  out  with  great  dignity  and  impressive- 
ness,  even  in  the  laxest  days  of  the  Hanoverian  era.^ 
Copes  were  worn  at  the  Holy  Communion — which 
was  always  celebrated  chorally  throughout  on  the  first 
Sunday  in  the  month — down  to  Dean  Warburton's 
time,  about  1780,  when  they  fell  into  desuetude. 
One  reason  for  the  disuse  of  these  vestments  was  that 
they  were  worn   till   they  were  so  thin  as  to  be  in 

^  It  is  still  the  practice  at  Durham  for  the  canons  to  make 
"  due  and  lowly  reverence  "  towards  the  altar  on  leaving;  the  choir 
at  the  conclusion  of  every  service. 


DURHAM  49 

danger  of  dropping  to  pieces,  unless,  indeed,  the  story 
given  in  a  number  of  the  Quarterly  Review  for  1825 
be  true — as  it  probably  is.  The  reviewer  says  that 
in  asking  the  verger  why  the  copes  were  disused, 
he  said  :  "It  happened  in  my  time :  did  you  ever 
hear  of  Dr  Warburton,  sir?  A  very  hot  man  he 
was,  sir!  we  never  could  please  him  putting  on  his 
robes.  This  stifT  high  collar  used  to  ruffle  his  full- 
bottomed  wig ;  till  one  day  he  threw  the  robe  off  in 
a  great  passion  and  said  he  would  never  wear  it 
again :  and  he  never  did ;  and  the  other  gentlemen 
soon  left  off  theirs  too." 

Daniel  Defoe  alludes  to  these  vestments  in  his 
"  Tour  through  Great  Britain,"  taken  during  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  "The  church,"  he 
remarks,  "  is  very  rich  ;  they  have  excellent  music. 
The  old  vestments  which  the  clergy  before  the  Refor- 
mation wore  are  still  us'd  on  Sundays  and  other  Holy 
days  by  the  Residents  \i.e.  Canons  Residentiary]. 
They  are  so  rich  with  embroidery  and  emboss'd 
work  of  silver,  as  must  needs  make  it  uneasy  for 
the  wearers  to  sustain." 

These  copes  are  still  preserved  in  the  library  on 
the  south  side  of  the  cathedral — four  being  mediaeval, 
and  one  of  the  time  of  Charles  I.  The  best  of  the 
mediaeval  copes  is  one  of  blue  cloth  of  gold,  with 
orphreys  containing  eight  subjects  of  events  from 
the  Life  of  Our  Lord,  and  one  of  the  descent 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  On  the  hood  is  a  figure  of  Our 
Lord,  seated  and  surrounded  by  angels ;  but  little, 
if  any,  of  this  is  mediaeval  work.  The  seventeenth- 
century  cope  is  of  crimson  satin,  powdered  all 
over   with   stars,  and    David   holding   the   head    of 

D 


50         CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

Goliath  worked  on  the  hood ;  the  border  is  covered 
with  cherubs.  But  whether  of  mediaeval  or  late  work 
these  vestments  at  Durham  afford  much  delight  to 
the  student  of  ecclesiastical  embroidery,  and  are 
justly  prized.  Sir  William  Brereton,  in  his  "  Notes 
of  a  Journey  "  published  by  the  Chetham  Society,  thus 
describes  Durham  Cathedral  as  he  saw  it  in  1635  : — 

"  The  minster  is  kept  as  neatly  as  any  in  England. 
Herein  is  a  stately  pair  of  organs  which  look  both 
into  the  church  and  chancel ;  a  stately  altar  stone, 
all  of  fine  marble,  standing  upon  a  frame  of  marble 
columns.  When  the  Communion  is  here  administered, 
which  is  by  the  bishop  himself,  there  is  laid  upon  the 
altar  a  stately  cloth  of  gold  :  the  bishop  useth  the 
new  embroidered  cope  which  is  wrought  full  of  stars, 
like  one  I  have  seen  used  in  S.  Denis  in  France. 
There  are  here  two  other  rich  copes,  all  of  which  are 
shaped  like  unto  long  cloaks  reaching  down  to  the 
ground,  and  which  have  long,  round  capes." 

This,  by  the  way,  is  one  only  of  almost  endless 
references  to  the  use  of  this,  the  most  dignified  of 
choir  vestments,  during  the  seventeenth  century  in 
England. 

Another  very  interesting  account  of  the  cathedral 
as  it  appeared  in  the  halcyon  days  of  Charles  L  is 
given  by  a  certain  lieutenant,  one  of  three  merry 
gentlemen  of  Norwich  who  set  out  in  1634  on  a  tour 
of  the  English  cathedrals.  The  lieutenant  compares 
the  city  to  a  "  crab  in  shape,"  but  does  full  justice  to 
the  cathedral.  Dr  Cosin — bishop  after  the  Restora- 
tion— was  then  treasurer,  and  "  great  sums  had  been 
disbursed  to  adorn  it."  There  was  "  a  fair  and  rich 
Communion  table,  which  cost  £200,  standing  at  the 


DURHAM  51 

high  altar,  of  black  branched  marble,  supported  with 
six  fair  columns  of  touchstone,  all  built  at  the  cost  of 
Dr  Hunt,  the  reverend  dean  ;  and  to  adorn  it  two 
double  gilt  candlesticks,  given  by  him."  There  were 
also  "divers  fair  copes  of  several  rich  works  of  crimson 
satin,  embroidered  with  embossed  work  of  silver, 
beset  all  over  with  cherubim  curiously  wrought  to 
life.  A  black  cope  wrought  with  gold,  with  divers 
images  in  colours ;  four  other  rich  copes  and  vest- 
ments ;  the  richest  of  all  they  gave  to  the  king  in  his 
progress."  Nothing  could  be  more  pleasant  to  our 
travellers  than  their  reception.  They  "  go  to  prayers, 
and  are  rapt  by  the  sweet  sound  and  richness  of  a 
fair  organ,  which  cost  ;^icxx>,  and  the  orderly,  devout 
and  melodious  harmony  of  the  choristers " ;  when, 
lo !  they  are  discovered  by  the  dean,  and  after  prayers 
done,  are  summoned  to  take  part  of  a  resident  dinner 
with  him. 

The  ancient  choir  stalls  erected  in  the  fifteenth 
century  by  Bishop  Wessington  were  destroyed, 
together  with  other  fittings,  by  the  Scots  during 
their  imprisonment  in  the  cathedral  after  the  Battle 
of  Dunbar  in  1650,  so  that  we  are  precluded  from 
forming  any  idea  of  its  mediaeval  furniture  in  wood. 
Upon  his  appointment  to  the  See,  shortly  after  the 
Restoration,  Bishop  Cosin,  like  Hacket  at  Lichfield, 
set  vigorously  to  work  to  refit  his  cathedral  choir, 
causing  it  to  be  equipped  with  return  stalls,  a  screen, 
and  an  organ  by  Father  Schmidt,  in  a  case  of  much 
dignity  and  sumptuousness.  In  his  stall  work,  the 
designer,  one  James  Clement,  a  Durhamian,  certainly 
succeeded  in  attaining  a  general  effect  of  mediaeval- 
ism,  though  a  close  inspection  reveals  an  admixture 


52  CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

of  classical  forms  not  to  be  wondered  at  when  we 
remember  the  date  of  its  execution.  The  screen, 
high  and  close,  was  of  the  richest  Jacobean  character, 
and  the  organ  which  it  supported  one  of  the  noblest- 
looking  instruments  in  the  kingdom. 

Of  those  who  have  filled  the  post  of  organist  to 
this  cathedral,  the  most  widely  remembered  is 
Thomas  Ebdon  (d.  1811),  and  that  chiefly  for  his 
Evening  Service  in  C,  which  is  still  a  favourite 
with  admirers  of  eighteenth-century  English  Church 
music.  His  Communion  Service  in  the  same  key 
is  completed  by  a  Gloria  in  Excelsis,  very  unusual 
for  this  period. 

Ebdon,  who  was  born  at  Durham  in  1738,  became 
a  chorister  of  the  cathedral,  and,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
five,  organist.  On  the  wooden  screen  separating  the 
north  aisle  from  the  presbytery,  his  name  may  still  be 
seen  carved — a  boyish  freak  for  which  he  doubtless 
received  a  cuffing  from  his  master  James  Heseltine, 
who  appears  to  have  been  a  very  spiteful  person,  for, 
in  revenge  for  some  slight  put  upon  him  by  the 
Dean  and  Chapter,  he  destroyed  the  greater  part 
of  his  anthems,  of  which  he  was  a  prolific  composer. 
Perhaps  the  world  has  suffered  no  great  loss. 

There  is  one  name  ever  present  in  the  minds  of 
thoughtful  visitors  to  Durham,  that  of  John  Bacchus 
Dykes,  upon  whom  the  University,  recognising  his 
great  musical  talents,  conferred  the  honorary  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Music  in  1861.  Minor  Canon  of  the 
cathedral  from  1849  till  his  death  in  1876,  Precentor 
from  1849  till  his  appointment  in  1862  to  the 
Vicarage  of  St  Oswald's  in  Elvet,  we  owe  to  Dr 
Dykes  some  of  the  finest  tunes  that  have  enriched 


CATHEDRAL 


Example  of  a  Choir  refitted 
after  the  Restoration 


DURHAM  53 

our  hymnody  within  the  last  half  century.  His  seven 
tunes  selected  in  i860  by  Dr  W.  H.  Monk  for  the 
first  edition  of  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern^  have  rarely 
been  surpassed.^  Dykes'  Communion  Service  in  F, 
although  of  a  quiet  and  rather  sombre  character 
throughout,  contains  many  beautiful  passages,  but 
his  chef  dceuvre  is  undoubtedly  the  Dies  Irce 
Worthy  in  every  way  to  stand  side  by  side  with  the 
original  plain  song  setting  of  Thomas  de  Celano's 
world-famed  sequence,  it  probably  formed  part  of  a 
burial  service  existing  only  in  MS.  at  Durham,  but 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  competent  critics,  is  one  of 
Dykes'  finest  efforts.  Of  his  anthems, "  The  Lord  is 
my  Shepherd  "  and  "  These  are  They  which  came  out 
of  Great  Tribulation,"  are  perhaps  the  most  widely 
known  and  liked.  The  latter,  heard  as  it  was  in 
Durham  Cathedral  at  the  First  Evensong  of  St 
Bartholomew's  Day  some  years  ago,  was  environed 
with  a  peculiar  interest 

A  sad  era  now  opens  in  the  history  of  this  stately 
fane.  We  sigh  when  we  reflect  upon  the  melancholy 
fact  that  both  Salisbury  and  Durham  Cathedrals 
were  spoilt  by  the  ruthless  hand  of  that  same 
Wyatt,  who  at  Lichfield  and  Hereford  was  dragging 
tombs  and  chantries  and  altar-screens  out  of  their 
places,  and  rebuilding  Norman  triforia  and  clere- 
stories in  order  to  make  what,  in  the  language  of 
his  day,  was  a  "  neat  and  appropriate  structure "  ; 
and  who  was   refitting  and   putting  pseudo-vaulted 

^  These  are  "  O  Come  and  Mourn  with  Me  awhile"  ;  "  Holy, 
Holy,  Holy";  "Our  Blest  Redeemer";  "Jesu,  Lover  of  my 
Soul "  ;  "  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee  "  ;  "  Eternal  Father,  strong 
to  Save  " ;  and,  "  Day  of  Wrath,  O  Day  of  Mourning." 


54         CATHEDRALS    OF   ENGLAND 

roofs  on  college  chapels  at  Oxford,  and  denuding 
fifteenth  -  century  windows  both  there  and  at 
Windsor  of  their  tracery  to  make  room  for  trans- 
parent pictures  in  glass. 

Indeed,  there  is  something  of  an  epic  interest  in 
the  fact  that  what  one  bishop,  first  of  Salisbury  and 
then  of  Durham,  perfected,  another  bishop,  first  of 
Salisbury  and  then  of  Durham,  permitted  to  be 
injured  beyond  what  at  first  sight  would  seem  to 
have  been  beyond  all  hope  of  recovery ;  as  if  Shute 
Barrington  the  munificent,  for  so  he  truly  was,  must 
everywhere,  by  some  fatal  necessity,  be  the  destroyer 
of  the  works  of  the  no  less  munificent  Bishop  Poore. 
For  it  was  during  Bishop  Barrington's  tenure  of  the 
See  (179 1  to  1826)  that,  at  an  enormous  expense,  four 
inches  of  masonry  were  chiselled  from  the  whole 
surface  of  the  north  side  and  east  end  of  the 
cathedral,  the  incongruous  parapets  and  pinnacles 
given  to  the  western  towers,  their  perpetrator 
evidently  thinking  with  the  ladies  that  nothing  was 
complete  without  an  edging,  and  the  Chapter-house 
partly  destroyed. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  the  scraping 
process  robbed  the  shafts,  capitals,  mouldings,  and 
buttresses  of  their  due  proportion  to  the  fabric. 
Niches  and  canopies,  and  figures  in  stone  were 
removed  ;  boldly  projecting  ornaments,  suited  to 
the  wide  surfaces,  cut  away ;  and  bald,  miserable 
niches,  in  the  architecture  of  "  once  upon  a  time," 
supplanted  characteristic  ornaments,  of  which  enough 
was  left  to  have  led  to  their  perfect  restoration. 

Nondescript  monstrosities  of  "  The  Castle  of 
Otranto "   type  were  perched   on    and   around    the 


DURHAM  55 

noble  northern  portal ;  and  the  removal  of  that 
resting-place  of  saints,  the  western  Galilee,  in  order 
to  afford  room  for  a  carriage  road  to  the  residences 
of  modern  prebendaries,  was  actually  commenced, 
when  the  arrival  of  Dean  Cornwallis  to  keep  his  term 
of  residence  prevented  further  destruction.  It  was 
the  Dean's  boast  that  he  saved  the  Galilee,  but  it  is 
much  more  probable  that  we  owe  its  preservation 
to  John  Carter's  remonstrances.  The  same  indefati- 
gable antiquary  led  the  clamour  against  a  "  setting 
to  rights  "  of  the  choir,  contemplated  by  Wyatt,  than 
whom  no  one  has  been  so  much  overrated  by  his 
friends  or  so  abused  by  his  enemies.  How  far  he 
was  morally  responsible  for  the  deeds  of  vandalism 
that  were,  or  were  to  have  been,  carried  out  in  his 
name  is  doubtful ;  yet  the  fact  remains  that  at 
Durham,  the  bishop's  throne  and  altar  -  screen  were 
to  have  been  taken  down,  mixed  together,  and  made 
up  into  a  new  screen,  to  be  set  up  against  the  eastern 
wall  of  the  Nine  Altars!  Fortunately  a  design  so 
atrocious  was  frustrated  by  the  means  to  which  I 
have  already  alluded. 

In  1799  the  apsidal  Chapter-house — that  interest- 
ing and  once  unrivalled  fabric,  in  which  forty-five  of 
the  bishops  of  Durham  had  been  installed,  ending 
in  1791  with  Harrington;  whose  floor  was  paved 
with  inscribed  slabs  and  brasses  commemorating 
ecclesiastics  who  had  been  there  interred,  and  where 
lie  the  remains  of  Aidan,  first  Bishop  of  Lindis- 
farne,  of  Turgot,  of  William  de  Carileph,  and  Pudsey 
— was  voted  "  uncomfortable  for  chapter  meetings," 
so  the  work  of  making  it  "snug  and  polite"  was 
commenced.     The    culprit    in    this    case    was    not 


56         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Wyatt,  but  one  Morpeth,  and  the  way  in  which 
he  set  about  the  task  is  remarkable,  showing  how 
perfectly  judicious  was  the  choice  of  the  agent  to 
carry  out  the  destructive  propensities  of  the  Chapter. 

A  man  was  suspended  by  tackle  above  the 
groining,  and  knocked  out  the  keystones,  when  the 
whole  fell,  and  crushed  the  paved  floor,  rich  with 
gravestones  and  brasses  of  the  bishops  and  priors. 
Then  the  eastern  portion — forty  feet  in  length  with 
its  semicircular  apsis  rich  in  interlacing  Norman 
arcades — was  destroyed,  and  the  part  that  escaped 
finished  with  a  new  wall  in  which  sash  windows  of 
the  ordinary  domestic  description  were  inserted,  so 
that  by  the  aid  of  a  lath  and  plaster  ceiling  and  a 
boarded  floor,  an  "elegant"  and  "comfortable" 
square  room  was  formed,  and  a  considerable  addition 
made  to  the  Deanery  garden. 

Happily  our  own  day  has  seen  this  noble  Norman 
room  restored  to  its  pristine  beauty  under  Mr 
Hodgson  Fowler,  and  as  a  memorial  to  Bishop 
Lightfoot,  the  drawings  of  it  made  by  John  Carter 
before  the  mischief  began,  proving  of  great  assistance 
in  the  recovery  of  its  details. 

Early  in  the  last  century,  William  Atkinson,  a 
proteg^  of  Bishop  Barrington,  was  commissioned 
to  encase  the  upper  stage  of  the  central  tower  in 
Parker's  cement,  but  fortunately  our  own  day  has 
seen  both  these  miserable  perpetrations  rectified. 

Bishop  Cosin's  uniquely  grandiose  choir,  with  its 
return -stalls  and  western  screen,  surmounted  by 
one  of  the  noblest  organs  in  England,  had  escaped 
Wyatt's  tampering.  Its  disturbance,  however,  was 
only  averted  for  a  time,  being  reserved  for  a  more 


DURHAM  57 

enlightened  age  to  accomplish.  In  1846  the  Chapter, 
under  the  plea  of  extra  accommodation,  placed  the 
work  of  destruction  in  the  hands  of  an  obliterator 
of  historical  records,  who  but  a  few  years  subse- 
quently was  invited  to  commit  similar  acts  of 
vandalism  at  Wells.  Down,  at  one  fell  swoop,  came 
the  screen  and  organ,  the  former  disappearing 
altogether,  the  latter  being  placed  on  the  ground 
floor  at  the  east  end  of  the  northern  range  of 
stalls,  which  were  hacked  about  and  disposed  within 
the  arcades  of  the  choir,  instead  of,  as  heretofore, 
in  front  of  them.  The  choir-screen  was  replaced  by 
nothing,  and  a  beautiful  spiral  font  canopy,  curious 
from  its  admixture  of  Gothic  and  Renaissance  detail, 
was  cast  aside. 

"  If  any  man  says  he  loves  Pointed  architecture 
and  hates  screens,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  denounce  him 
as  a  liar,"  was  a  forcible,  if  not  very  elegant,  expres- 
sion used  by  that  enthusiastic  pioneer  of  the  art  of 
mediaeval  architecture  in  modern  times — Augustus 
Welby  Pugin — in  his  celebrated  "  Treatise  on  Chancel 
Screens."  And  truly,  artistically  speaking,  a  church 
without  a  screen  resembles  the  play  of  Hamlet  with 
the  principal  character  omitted.  The  nave  and  the 
choir  are  actually  distinct  portions  of  a  building,  and  it 
is  but  reasonable  that  they  should  be  made  to  appear 
as  such.  Setting  aside  its  doctrinal  significance,  the 
presence  of  a  lofty — not  necessarily  close — screen  is 
needed  practically  and  aesthetically,  and  more 
particularly  in  cathedrals  like  ours,  in  which  their 
designers  secured  those  impressive  effects  that  are 
derivable  from  length  and  lowness. 

The  interest  of  anything  is  ruined  if  it  can  all  be 


58         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

taken  in  at  a  glance.  The  interest  which  poet  and 
painter  excite  by  leaving  much  to  imagination,  by 
suggestion  and  allusion,  is  obtained  in  architecture 
by  partial  opening,  partial  screening,  and  leaving 
ever  a  suggestion  of  something  on  beyond,  which 
we  search  for  because  there  is  a  pleasant  mysterj' 
about  it.  Thus  we  are  charmed  by  an  art  which 
delights  us  by  its  variety,  and  masters  us  by  its 
power  and  apparent  inexhaustibleness. 

Fortunately  Robert  Billing  published  his  archi- 
tectural history  of  the  cathedral  two  years  before 
this  interesting  early  post  -  Restoration  choir  was 
disturbed,  so  that  we  are  enabled  to  form  a  very 
good  idea  of  it  as  it  appeared  looking  westward 
until  1846,  from  the  frontispiece  to  that  exquisitely 
illustrated  monograph. 

Of  the  choir  looking  east,  a  view  is  given  in 
Blore's  "Monumental  Remains,"  published  early  in 
the  last  century.  It  is  a  fine  engraving  on  copper, 
and  interesting  picturesquely  as  well  as  architectur- ' 
ally,  representing,  as  it  does,  the  singing  of  the  Litany 
by  two  minor  canons  at  the  desk  in  the  centre  of 
the  choir,  a  very  ancient  custom  at  Durham.  This 
dual  performance  of  the  Litany  is  still  observed  in 
other  cathedrals,  notably  Exeter,  Lichfield,  Norwich, 
and  has  been,  up  to  a  comparatively  recent  period,  at 
St  Paul's.  In  these  instances,  however,  its  recitation 
is  shared  by  a  minor  canon  and  a  lay-vicar,  while  at 
Lincoln  the  duty  devolves  on  two  lay-vicars,  who 
chant  it  as  far  as  the  commencement  of  the  Lesser 
Litany  with  the  Lord's  Prayer, 

Another  very  interesting  picture  of  the  choir  of 
Durham  previous  to   1846,  is  that  by  the  late  Mr 


DURHAM  59 

Hastings  of  that  city.  It  is  now  in  the  library  of 
the  Dean  and  Chapter,  the  scene  selected  by  its 
artist  being  that  presented  by  "  Assize  Sunday,"  with 
the  judges,  sheriff  and  other  county  officials  attending 
service. 

Another  interesting  feature  that  disappeared  about 
this  time  was  the  screen  which  surrounded  St 
Cuthbert's  Feretory,  V'-i'-ch  projects  from  behind  the 
Neville  shrine  into  tiie,  Nine  Altars  Chapel  like  a 
musicians'  gallery.  This  screen,  it  is  true,  was 
Italian,  and  of  the  same  date  as  the  other  wood- 
work in  the  choir ;  still,  it  enclosed  that  sacred  spot 
for  which  the  people  who  put  it  there  probably 
had  far  more  reverence  than  those  who  took  it 
away. 

The  denaturalisation  of  a  cathedral  is  at  all  times 
a  sad  thing,  but  perhaps  there  was  no  cathedral  in 
England  whose  modernisation  at  that  ignorant  epoch 
was  more  to  be  regretted  than  that  of  Durham, 
connected  as  it  is  with  the  Church  of  England  in 
her  most  imposing  aspect,  both  ecclesiastically  and 
ritually, —  the  church  whose  foundation  recalls 
St  Cuthbert  and  the  Venerable  Bede,  whose  rites, 
as  they  were  exceedingly  gorgeous,  so  are  still  on 
record  as  those  of  no  other  place, — the  church, 
finally,  which,  in  the  restoration  of  outward 
solemnity  in  the  seventeenth  century,  partook  of 
the  revived  religious  feeling  more  than  any  other 
cathedral. 

Half  a  century  ago  Durham  Cathedral  was  pain- 
fully deficient  in  stained  glass.  Until  1795  there 
were  considerable  remains  in  the  fifteen  east  windows 
and  the  rose  of  the  Nine  Altars,  but  in  that  year  the 


6o         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Perpendicular  mullions  and  tracery  with  which  the 
lancets  had  been  filled,  were,  except  those  in  the 
south-eastern  transept  windows,  taken  out,  and  such 
painted  glass  as  they  contained  replaced  by  plain. 
This  glass  lay  for  a  long  time  afterwards  in  baskets 
on  the  floor,  where  it  remained,  a  happy  hunting- 
ground  for  the  pilferer  and  curio-hunter,  and  not  until 
a  considerable  quantity  had  been  purloined  was  it 
locked  up  in  the  Galilee.  About  1821  portions  of 
it,  worked  up  with  gaudy  modern  pieces,  was  placed 
in  the  rose  above  the  central  triplet  of  lancets,  where 
it  remained  until  the  last  great  restoration  of  the 
cathedral  in  1870. 

Dr  Maltby,  Bishop  of  Durham  from  1836  to  1856, 
was  particularly  solicitous  for  the  fenestral  embellish- 
ment of  his  cathedral,  devoting  a  considerable  sum  of 
money  towards  it,  and  the  first-fruits  of  his  liberality 
are  displayed  in  the  western  window  of  either  nave 
aisle.  The  south-west  window  representing  the 
Venerable  Bede  is  by  Wailes ;  the  north-west  one 
with  its  effigies  of  St  Cuthbert  is  by  Willement. 
Bede  is  depicted  in  a  purple  monastic  habit  on  a 
ruby  ground  within  an  elongated  medallion,  and 
round  the  central  figure,  edging  into  the  border,  are 
small  scenes  from  his  life.  St  Cuthbert  is  depicted,  in 
accordance  with  mediaeval  precedent,  holding  the 
head  of  King  Oswald,  and  is  vested  in  a  crimson 
chasuble  and  green  dalmatic  edged  with  gold  ;  he 
wears  also  a  short  mitre.  The  ground-work  is  blue, 
relieved  by  a  kind  of  trellis  pattern  ;  the  canopy  is 
in  conventional  Romanesque,  and  in  a  trefoil  below 
King  Egfrid  is  seen  landing  on  the  Island  of  Fame 
to  prevail  upon  Cuthbert — the  famous  saint  to  whom 


DURHAM  6i 

the  church  of  Durham  is  in  a  great  degree  indebted 
for  her  special  pre-eminence — to  accept  the  bishopric 
of  Lindisfame.  For  the  period  of  their  execution 
(1848)  these  may  be  called  excellent  windows,  their 
respective  executants  having  taken  great  pains  with 
them. 

No  further  accession  to  the  painted  glass  was 
made  until  1867,  the  Chapter  having  wisely  determined 
to  postpone  its  insertion  until  greater  proficiency  had 
been  reached  by  the  art.  In  the  December  of  that 
year  the  Flowing  Decorated  west  window  received 
its  complement  through  the  munificence  of  Dean 
Waddington,  the  work,  an  excellent  specimen  of 
Clayton  and  Bell's,  having  had  the  benefit  of  Mr  C. 
Hodgson  Fowler's  superintendence. 

The  subject  of  this  window  is  the  Root  of  Jesse, 
followed  out  partly  from  the  description  of  the  glass 
given  in  "  The  Rites  of  Durham,"  and  partly  from  a 
study  of  that  in  the  east  window  of  Morpeth  Church. 
The  tinctures  are  superb,  and  those  desirous  of 
studying  the  advances  made  in  vitreous  decoration 
since  the  insertion  of  the  Bede  and  Cuthbert  windows 
should  by  no  means  neglect  this  one,  which  appears 
to  unusual  advantage  during  a  fine  sunset. 

In  the  north  and  south  aisles  of  the  nave,  the  same 
artists  have  put  glass  illustrating  some  of  the  most 
striking  events  and  persons  of  early  Christian  times 
in  Northumbria,  and  in  this  series  Messrs  Clayton 
and  Bell  have  preserved  an  Early  Gothic  character 
without  undue  archaism. 

Each  of  the  great  transeptal  windows  is  a  fine 
specimen  of  Messrs  Clayton  and  Bell's  skill,  white 
having   been    plentifully    used    in   the    groups    and 


62         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

figures,  thereby  throwing  their  brilliant  positive 
tinctures,  which  rival,  if  they  do  not  excel,  those  of  old 
time,  into  more  striking  relief.  The  southern  window, 
a  memorial  to  Archdeacon  Thorp,  and  representing 
the  Te  Deum,  was  inserted  in  1 869  ;  the  northern,  with 
its  single  figures  of  the  Latin  Doctors  and  others,  is 
six  years  later,  and  in  both  the  ancient  iconography 
as  set  forth  in  "  The  Rites "  has  been  reproduced. 
The  same  remarks  apply  to  the  glass  filling  the  great 
Early  Decorated  window  in  the  northern  arm  of  the 
Nine  Altars,  which,  as  anciently,  represents  the 
history  of  Joseph. 

With  the  exception  of  that  in  the  southern-most 
lancet  of  the  lower  tier,  all  the  stained  glass  in  the 
eastern  wall  of  the  Nine  Altars  is  by  Clayton  and 
Bell.  The  three  lancets  in  the  centre — which,  together 
with  the  rose  above  them,  recall  Laon  to  those  con- 
versant with  the  architecture  of  North-eastern  France — 
are  filled  with  a  number  of  subjects  from  Our  Lord's 
Life,  and  the  rose  represents  His  Session  in  Majesty, 
with  half-figures  of  the  apostles  and  elders.  Although 
this  work  will  bear  a  close  examination,  it  looks  best 
from  the  choir-screen,  whence  just  peering  through 
the  tracery  of  the  Neville  shrine,  it  may  not  be  com- 
pared unfavourably  with  some  of  the  best  French 
glass  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Indeed  a  finer  or 
more  appropriate  termination  to  the  once  seen,  never- 
to-be-forgotten  vista,  on  first  entering  the  cathedral, 
could  hardly  have  been  devised. 

In  the  twelve  remaining  lancets  the  same  mosaic 
treatment  has  been  pursued,  subjects  occupying  those 
in  the  lower,  and  single  figures  of  saints,  the  lesser 
lancets  of  the  upper  tier. 


DURHAM  63 

Other  stained  glass,  that  may  be  singled  out  for 
special  commendation,  is  the  window  in  memory  of 
Dean  Lake  (d.  1894)  in  the  eastern  aisle  of  the 
north  transept.  It  is  a  three-light  window  of  Late 
Decorated  character,  the  centre  of  which  is  occupied 
by  a  figure  of  Our  Lord  seated  in  majesty  beneath  a 
silvery  canopy  and  upon  a  ground  of  slatey-blue. 
The  under  robe  is  of  white  and  gold,  and  the  cope 
a  rich  red.  Below  Him  is  St  Cuthbert  in  full 
pontificals,  his  cope  of  deep  green  showing  a 
crimson  dalmatic  edged  with  gold. 

On  either  side  these  two  central  figures  are  St 
Benedict  and  St  Oswald,  St  Francis  and  St  Aidan, 
with,  above  each,  an  angel,  seated  and  holding  a 
scroll.  The  two  Romanesque  windows  next  to  it,  one 
of  which  forms  another  memorial  to  Dean  Lake, 
under  whom  it  may  be  said  the  cathedral  has  been 
made  to  assume  its  present  magnificent  appearance, 
are  likewise  excellent,  but  the  palm  must  certainly 
be  awarded  to  the  northern  window  of  this  eastern 
aisle  with  its  subjects  from  the  Passion.  One  of  the 
most  beautiful  windows  of  its  size  I  know,  it  owes  its 
excellent  effect  to  the  abundant  use  of  white  glass, 
and  to  the  absence  of  fuss  in  the  form  of  scrolls  and 
tabernacle  work.  The  Crucifixion,  against  a  dossal 
formed  of  tendrils,  is  particularly  good. 

The  present  choir-screen  and  pulpit,  though 
doubtless  fine  works  of  their  kind,  must,  in  their 
present  position,  be  regarded  as  costly  failures. 

At  a  tithe  of  the  expense,  work  harmonising  with 
the  stall  work  of  the  choir  might  have  been  produced 
with  excellent  results,  and  the  surplus  expended  on 
the  restoration  of  colour  and  statuary  to  the  Neville 


64         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

shrine.  It  is  pleasing,  however,  to  chronicle  that  the 
magnificent  canopy  of  Bishop  Cosin's  days  has  been 
restored  to  the  font. 

The    rearranged    cathedral   was   reopened   on   St 
Luke's  Day,  i8th  October  1876. 


Tour 


CHAPTER  III 


ELY 


I  THINK  that  were  I  asked  to  point  to  an  English 
cathedral  exhibiting  most  perfectly  and  instructively 
the  mode  pursued  by  ecclesiastics  of  the  Middle 
Ages  in  rebuilding  their  churches — a  work  that  was 
constantly  going  on,  and  whose  progress  was  only 
stopped  by  the  arrival  of  a  day  of  coldness  and 
indifference,  I  should  unhesitatingly  refer  to  Ely. 
It  was  always  beautiful,  even  at  the  worst  period  of 
its  history,  and  more  beautiful  exceedingly  with  all 
the  original  elegance  of  structure,  and  all  the  recent 
adornments  of  the  sculptor's  and  painter's  skill. 

Every  English  cathedral  has  some  one  feature  by 
which  we  distinguish  it  from  the  rest.  At  Ely 
it  is  the  central  octagon,  which  with  its  curiously 
suspended  lantern  was  devised  by  one  whose  powers 
have  seldom  been  surpassed.  He  was  a  monk  of  the 
convent,  but  nevertheless  an  engineer  of  conspicuous 
ability,  as  any  one  who  has  examined  this  cathedral 
will  allow,  and  his  taste  as  an  artist  was  as  remarkable 


E 


«6 


66         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

as  his  engineering  power  ;  and  so  it  came  about,  that 
when  the  ancient  central  tower  fell  down  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  there  was  an  architect  on  the 
spot  who  was  competent  to  repair  the  mischief,  and 
not  to  repair  it  alone,  but  to  turn  the  loss  into  a  gain, 
and  to  make  the  fall  of  the  Norman  tower  an  occasion 
of  rejoicing,  adding,  as  it  did,  its  principal  glory  to 
the  building.  It  was  thus  that  the  octagon  had  its 
birth,  and  that  Ely  Cathedral  became  what  it  is. 

With  this  preface  I  proceed  to  give  as  succinct  an 
account  of  this  glorious  church  of  the  Fen-country 
as  is  compatible  with  the  space  at  my  disposal. 

Ely  Cathedral  occupies  the  site  of  a  monastery, 
founded  in  the  year  673  by  Etheldreda,  who  with 
Hilda,  Sexburgha,  Ermenhilda,  Werburgha,  and 
Withburgha  formed  one  of  a  galaxy  of  royal  and 
noble  ladies  whose  piety  and  good  works  form 
so  remarkable  a  feature  in  the  early  history  of  our 
race,  and  whose  saintly  lives  have  been  so  admirably 
sketched  by  the  Comte  de  Montalembert. 

Etheldreda — the  daughter  of  Anna,  King  of  East 
Anglia — was  married  twice,  but  always  lived  apart 
from  her  husband,  and  ultimately  went  into  the 
marshes  of  the  Isle  of  Ely,  where  she  founded  that 
abbey  which  has  since  developed  into  the  present 
magnificent  cathedral  church.  Etheldreda  died  in  679 
of  a  sore  throat — probably  it  was  a  quinsy  or  some- 
thing of  that  sort ;  and  when  she  was  lying  on  her 
death-bed,  she  thought  this  infliction  had  been  sent 
upon  her  as  a  punishment  for  the  pride  and  pleasure 
which  she  had  taken  in  former  days  in  wearing  a 
beautiful  necklace.  After  her  death  she  was 
generally   esteemed   as   the   patroness   of,  or  rather 


ELY  67 

against,  sore  throats,  and  when  persons  had  a  tickling 
sensation  in  that  region  they  addressed  their  prayers 
for  relief  to  St  Etheldreda,  or,  as  her  name  became 
subsequently  corrupted,  into  St  Audrey. 

Now  at  the  annual  fair  in  the  Isle  of  Ely  called 
St  Audrey's  Fair,  much  ordinary  but  showy  lace  was 
sold  to  the  country  lasses.  St  Audrey's  lace  soon 
became  proverbial,  and  from  that  cause  "  Tawdry,"  a 
corruption  of  St  Audrey,  was  established  as  a  common 
expression  to  denote  not  only  lace,  but  any  other 
part  of  female  dress  which  was  more  gaudy  in 
appearance  than  warranted  by  its  real  value.  Thus 
we  see  how  the  saintly  and  ascetic  princess  has  had 
the  misfortune  to  give  her  name  to  that  which  it  was 
the  great  aim  and  object  of  her  life  most  strenuously 
to  repudiate  and  condemn. 

There  are  many  thoughtful  persons  who,  in  look- 
ing through  the  Prayer  Book  calendar,  have  wondered 
why  the  Festival  of  St  Luke,  although  commemora- 
ting a  martyr,  and  occurring  out  of  any  festal  season, 
should  not  be  provided  with  a  vigil. 

The  reason  is,  because  the  Eve  of  St  Luke  was 
always  one  of  the  greatest  holy-days  of  the  English 
Church — the  Festival  of  St  Etheldreda — and  which 
it  was  not  thought  right  should  be  overshadowed  by 
any  penitential  cast  in  the  day's  services.  But  that 
reason  being  now  removed,  every  English  Church- 
man is  left  to  his  own  liberty  as  to  his  private 
devotions  whether  he  will  observe  the  eve  as  a  vigil 
or  not. 

There  does  not  appear  to  be  any  record  extant 
relating  to  the  structure  of  St  Etheldreda's  Church, 
but  in  all  probability  it  was  of  the  homeliest  descrip- 


68         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

tion,  its  only  decorative  feature  perhaps  being  the 
turned  baluster  column,  of  which  a  considerable 
number  have  been  found  embedded  in  later  walls 
at  Jarrow,  and  some  still  in  situ  at  Monk  Wearmouth. 

Etheldreda  was  succeeded  in  the  government  of 
the  abbey  by  her  relatives — Sexburgha,  Ermenhilda, 
and  Withburgha,  all  of  whom  were  canonised,  became 
the  great  saints  of  the  district,  and  were  subsequently 
honoured  with  costly  shrines. 

This  first  conventual  church  at  Ely  seems  to  have 
existed  about  two  hundred  years,  being  destroyed 
about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century  during  a 
dreadful  invasion  of  the  Danes, 

Shortly  afterwards  it  was  repaired,  and  replaced  a 
century  later  by  another  church,  of  which  we  know 
nothing  whatever.  The  foundation  was  then  changed 
from  a  nunnery  to  a  monastery  of  Benedictine  monks. 
Shortly  after  the  Conquest,  the  establishment  was 
greatly  increased,  and  was  now  tenanted  by  seventy 
religious.  But  in  the  meantime,  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  Saxon  epoch,  its  possessions  having 
increased  considerably,  it  had  become  one  of  the 
wealthiest  religious  houses  of  its  time.  The  kingdom, 
which  had  been  again  under  Danish  rule,  and  which 
had  been  restored  to  the  English,  under  King  Edward 
the  Confessor,  had  been  conquered  by  the  Normans  ; 
but  this  part  of  the  country  being  an  inaccessible 
point  to  the  invaders,  it  held  out  for  several  years, 
resisting  the  attacks  of  the  great  generals,  and 
even  of  the  Conqueror  himself  But  at  length 
the  camp  was  taken,  and  soon  after  that,  a  Norman 
abbot  was  appointed — Simeon  by  name — a  quiet, 
studious   person,  with  whose   rule   the  architectural 


ELY  69 

history  of  the  present  church  may  be  said  to 
commence. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  precisely  how  much  Simeon 
built,  but  it  is  certain  that  he  laid  the  foundations 
of  such  parts  as  were  immediately  necessary  to  the 
performance  of  the  sacred  offices. 

The  only  portions  now  existing  of  Simeon's  work 
is  the  lowest  stage  of  either  transept,  where  the  stout 
circular  piers  and  the  incipient  volute,  a  feature  in 
contemporary  buildings  at  Caen,  are  sufficient  indica- 
tions of  its  early  character ;  for  the  abbot  had  been 
trained  to  massive  Norman  grandeur  through  having 
been  prior  of  Winchester,  while  his  brother  Walkelin 
was  rebuilding  his  cathedral.  Simeon  died  in  1093 
at  the  age  of  one  hundred  years,  after  which  the 
abbey  was  vacant  for  seven  years.  During  that 
interval,  or  under  his  immediate  successor  Richard, 
the  choir  was  begun.  It  terminated,  as  was  dis- 
covered during  Sir  Gilbert  Scott's  restoration  sixty 
years  ago,  in  an  aisleless  apse,  exactly  like  Peter- 
borough, but  of  this  Norman  choir  the  only  remains 
are  the  two  great  shafts  which  communicated  with 
the  apse,  and  which  now  form  a  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  Early  English  and  Decorated  portions  of 
the  present  long  eastern  limb. 

The  work  of  building  the  Norman  presbytery  must 
have  made  rapid  progress,  for  on  St  Etheldreda's 
Day,  17th  October  1106,  the  remains  of  that  saint 
and  her  sisters  were  translated  into  the  new  building 
and  placed  in  the  eastern  arm,  the  choir  proper  being 
located,  as  in  all  Norman  Benedictine  churches, 
under  the  central  tower,  and  even  extending  into 
the  nave. 


70         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

The  next  epoch  in  the  history  of  Ely  is  after  it 
became  a  bishopric. 

Henry,  who  succeeded  Richard  in  the  abbacy,  so 
used  his  influence  with  the  Pope  and  King,  that  in 
1 109  Ely  was  converted  into  a  See,  and  the  conventual 
church — hitherto  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop 
of  Lincoln — became  also  a  cathedral  one,  the  last 
abbot  becoming  the  first  bishop,  and  taking  his  stall 
on  the  right-hand  side  immediately  on  entering  the 
choir,  while  the  prior,  upon  whom  the  general  super- 
vision of  the  monks  devolved,  retained  his  on  the  north. 

Hervey-le-Breton  and  his  successor,  Nigel, Treasurer 
of  Henry  L,  and  nephew  to  the  powerful  Bishop 
Roger  of  Salisbury,  together  held  the  See  nearly 
twenty  years.  During  their  tenure  of  it  (1109-69) 
the  whole  of  the  nave  must  have  been  built,  and  the 
western  transept  commenced,  both  in  that  more 
advanced  style  of  Norman,  whose  greater  lightness 
and  gracefulness  bespeaks  the  friendly  admixture  of 
the  two  races. 

Bishop  Ridel,  who  came  next,  held  the  See  from 
1 174  to  1 1 89,  during  which  period  the  great  transition 
from  the  round  arched  to  the  pointed  style  was 
making  itself  felt  all  over  the  kingdom. 

This  prelate  completed  the  upper  portion  of  the 
western  transept,  and  commenced  the  western  tower, 
which  is,  for  the  most  part,  of  Early  English 
character,  though  French  influence  lurks  here  and 
there,  particularly  in  the  use  of  the  crochet  capital. 

Thus,  by  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  Ely  had 
become  a  perfected  Norman  structure  of  the  first 
class,  resembling  in  many  features,  both  of  plan  and 
form,  its  noble  sister  of  the  Fens  at  Peterborough. 


ELY  71 

It  consisted  of  an  apsidal  presbytery  of  four 
bays ;  transepts,  likewise  of  four  bays ;  and  a 
nave  of  thirteen,  the  last,  measuring  from  the 
central  tower  to  the  great  arch  opening  into  the 
western  transept,  nearly  220  feet.  All  had  triforia 
and  clerestories  of  unusually  noble  dimensions,  but 
their  main  roofs  were  simply  ceiled,  for  English 
architects  at  that  time  had  not  sufficient  temerity 
to  vault  over  such  wide  spaces.  Then,  at  the  west 
end  was  one  of  those  spacious  western  transepts 
that  subsequently  became  such  favourite  features 
with  the  Rhenish  architects  of  the  first  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  and  the  deficiency  of  which  one 
always  seems  to  feel  on  entering  the  nave  at 
Norwich. 

Two  munificent  bishops,  Eustachius  and  Hugh 
de  Northwold,  presided  over  Ely  during  that  new 
and  glorious  era  in  church  architecture,  the  thirteenth 
century. 

To  the  former  is  due  that  Galilee  porch  which, 
so  admirably  calculated  to  solemnise  the  mind,  and 
to  prepare  it  for  the  overwhelming  grandeur  of  the 
interior,  formed  the  last  station  at  processions, 
besides  having,  like  those  great  narthexes,  or  porches 
des  catechumens,  such  as  we  see  in  Burgundy  at 
Paray-le-Monial,  Tournus,  and  Vezelay,  and  whilom 
at  Clugny,  some  disciplinary  use. 

Like  the  Galilee  at  Durham,  this  of  Ely  had  a 
very  narrow  escape  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign 
of  George  III.,  when  James  Essex,  who  had  been 
called  in  about  that  time  to  superintend  some  repairs 
and  alterations,  advised  not  only  its  removal,  but 
that   of   the   noble   south-west    transept,    as   being 


72         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

"neither  useful  nor  ornamental,"  and  "not  worth 
preserving  "  (!) 

To  the  latter  prelate  we  are  indebted  for  the 
unsurpassable  six-bayed  presbytery,  built  to  hold 
more  shrines,  one  of  which,  in  addition  to  those  of 
the  four  sainted  abbesses,  was  erected  in  honour 
of  St  Alban.  It  seems  curious  that  there  should 
be  a  shrine  to  St  Alban  here,  but  it  is  nevertheless 
a  fact.  For  during  its  early  years  St  Alban's 
suffered  like  other  towns  from  the  Danish  marauders, 
who,  in  the  time  of  Wulnoth,  the  fourth  abbot,  not 
only  sacked  the  abbey,  but  carried  off  the  bones  of 
England's  protomartyr,  which  they  deposited  in  the 
convent  of  Owensee  in  Denmark,  but  the  relics  were 
afterwards  recovered  and  sent  back  to  the  abbey. 
About  seventy  years  after,  in  the  time  of  -^Ifric  II., 
the  eleventh  abbot,  the  Northmen  again  laid  waste 
the  country,  and  the  abbot,  with  recollections  of  the 
former  disaster,  had  the  martyr's  bones  concealed  in 
a  recess  in  the  walls  of  the  church.  As  a  further 
precaution  he  caused  supposititious  relics  to  be  sent 
to  Ely,  entreating  the  religious  there  to  take  every 
care  of  the  precious  charge. 

Upon  the  retirement  of  the  Danes  ^Ifric  reclaimed 
these  bones,  but  the  Ely  people  refused  to  part  with 
them  ;  and  when  at  length  they  were  persuaded  to 
do  so,  they  repeated  the  abbot  of  St  Alban's 
trick,  and  substituted  the  bones  of  somebody  else. 
But,  as  the  legend  runs,  St  Alban  intervened,  for  in 
an  apparition  to  Gilbert,  one  of  the  brethren,  he  told 
him  that  the  true  relics  must  be  produced,  and 
deposited  in  the  shrine  in  the  centre  of  the  church. 
This  was  done  with  great  solemnity.     The  monks  of 


ELY  73 

Ely,  however,  made  the  artifice  they  had  practised 
public,  declaring  that  the  true  bones  were  in  their 
possession.  On  hearing  of  this  the  king,  Edward 
the  Confessor,  was  very  angry,  but  the  monks  held 
their  own,  and  for  a  century  the  "  true  bones "  of 
the  Protomartyr  of  England  were  exhibited  both 
at  St  Alban's  and  at  Ely.  Indeed  it  was  not  until 
Robert  de  Gorham,  the  eighteenth  abbot  of  St  Alban's, 
appealed  to  the  Pope,  with  the  result  that  three 
bishops  were  sent  to  enquire  into  and  settle  the 
matter,  that  the  monks  of  Ely  confessed  that  they 
had  been  outdone,  and  that  the  true  relics  of  the 
saint  were  in  Hertfordshire.  To  return,  however, 
from  this  digression. 

Nowhere,  perhaps,  is  the  marvellous  grace  and 
versatility  of  the  Early  English  style  better  dis- 
played or  more  sumptuously  developed  than  in 
this  presbytery  of  Bishop  Northwold. 

Indeed  the  erection  of  both  Galilee  and  presbytery 
at  Ely  had  an  extraordinary  effect  throughout 
Cambridgeshire,  for  in  between  sixty  and  seventy 
out  of  the  one  hundred  and  ninety  churches,  which, 
generally  speaking,  are  hardly  surpassed  by  those 
of  any  other  English  county,  the  work  of  this  period 
is  for  the  most  part  of  a  very  high  character,  and 
exhibits  much  delicacy  and  refinement.  Proof  of 
this  is  afforded  by  the  choir  of  Jesus  College  Chapel, 
Cambridge,  the  chancels  of  Cherry  Hinton  and 
Histon,  the  greater  part  of  the  churches  at  Elm  and 
Leverington,  the  tower  of  Bourn,  and  large  portions 
of  Foxton,  Barrington  and  Cheveley.  The  liberal 
use  of  Purbeck  marble  greatly  enhances  the  beauty 
of  this  presbytery  at  Ely,  the  pillars — eight  slender 


74         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

ringed  shafts  gathered  round  a  cylindrical  core — 
being  entirely  of  this  material,  including  not  only 
the  richly  flowered  capitals,  but  the  elongated  corbels 
of  leafage  from  which  the  vaulting  shafts  spring. 

Intended  by  Northwold  to  form  the  crown  and 
glory  of  his  cathedral  church,  this  ne  plus  ultra  of 
Early  English  refinement,  terminating  in  one  of 
those  square  ends  that  had  almost  everywhere 
superseded  the  apse,  was  commenced  in  1235  and 
consecrated  in  1252,  Henry  HL  and  his  son  Edward, 
then  about  thirteen  years  old,  being  present  at  the 
head  of  an  august  assemblage,  as  narrated  by 
Matthew  Paris : — 

"  Die  S.  Lamberti  dedicata  est  magnified  et  solem- 
nitur  nimis  nobilis  ecclesia  cathedralis  Elyensis. 
Cujus  Presbyterium,  proeterque  hoc  turrim  excellen- 
tissimam  opere  admirabili  ac  sumptuoso  nimis,  Hugo 
ejusdem  loci  Episcopus,  propriis  sumptibus  usque 
ad  perfectam  consummationem  construxerat.  Idem 
quoque  regale  palatium  cum  thalamis  et  aliis  cedificiis 
ad  idem  pertinentibus  in  curia  sua  Elyensi  gloriose 
edificaverat ;  afifuerunt  Episcopi  Norwicensis  et 
Londiniensis  .  .  .  dominus  rex  et  multi  magnates, 
etc." 

Although  on  this  occasion  the  convent,  palace, 
and  townsfolks'  houses  were  thronged,  the  bishop 
complained  that  the  feast  was  short  of  guests. 
Beyond  the  alteration  of  the  Norman  windows  in 
the  eastern  aisle  of  the  south  transept  into  Early 
Geometrical  ones,  somewhat  similar  to  those  in  the 
apsidal  chapels  of  Westminster  Abbey,  no  archi- 
tectural works  of  importance  were  undertaken  at 
Ely   after    the   consecration    until    1321,   when    the 


ELY  75 

Lady,  or,  as  it  is  now  styled,  the  Trinity  Chapel, 
was  commenced  from  the  designs  of  the  man  whose 
name  is  ever  on  our  lips  when  visiting  this  cathedral 
— Alan  of  Walsingham,  at  that  time  sub-prior.  The 
position  of  the  Lady  Chapel,  now  styled  Trinity 
Church,  at  the  north-east  angle  of  the  north  transept 
is  accounted  for  by  the  eagerness  of  the  Ely  people 
to  give  the  higher  and  holier  place,  the  east  end  of 
the  choir,  to  Etheldreda,  the  saint  on  whom  local 
popular  devotion  was  fastened. 

In  plan  it  is  a  parallelogram,  lOO  feet  long,  46 
feet  wide,  and  60  feet  high,  vaulted,  but  unsupported 
by  pillars.  On  either  side  are  five  windows  with 
reticulated  tracery  and  once  resplendent  with  stained 
glass,  of  which  but  some  scanty  fragments  remain. 
The  east  and  west  ends  have  each  a  noble  window 
in  which  the  tracery  has  a  slightly  Perpendicular 
tendency,  and  the  walls  on  the  north,  south  and 
west  sides  are  surrounded  by  a  series  of  stone  stalls, 
which  are  worthy  of  the  closest  study.  Their 
sculpture,  shockingly  mutilated  by  the  iconoclasts 
of  Edward  VI.,  has  been  most  minutely  described 
in  a  volume,  to  which  the  present  Bishop  of  Ely — 
Lord  Alwyne  Corapton — contributed  an  appreciative 
preface,  by  Dr  Montague  R.  James.  It  is  enriched 
with  fifty-five  collotype  plates,  and  is  altogether 
a  most  exhaustive  monograph  on  this  exquisite 
building,  whose  only  palpable  fault  is  its  undue 
width. 

Though  no  doubt  designed  by  Alan  of  Walsingham, 
this  Lady  Chapel  at  Ely  was  entrusted  to  the  care 
of  a  monk  named  John  of  Wisbeach,  who  is  recorded 
to    have  "  continued    the   work   aforesaid   with   the 


76         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

greatest  solicitude  through  twenty-eight  years  and 
thirteen  weeks,  and  to  have  finished  the  stone 
structure  with  images,  both  within  and  without  the 
chapel,  in  number  147,  besides  the  small  images  in 
the  tabula  or  reredos  over  the  altar,  and  exclusive 
of  the  images  to  the  doorway  of  the  entrance  to  the 
chapel ;  also  the  timber-work,  covered  with  lead, 
and  the  eastern  gable,  with  two  windows  on  either 
side  of  the  chapel,  most  beautifully  furnished  with 
iron  and  glass." 

The  re-dedication  of  this  Lady  Chapel  at  Ely  only 
dates  from  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  when  on  the 
demolition  of  the  Chapel  of  St  Cross,  which  was 
entered  from  the  north  aisle  of  the  nave,  it  was 
given  to  the  parishioners  of  Holy  Trinity. 

For  three  centuries  this  noble  lantern-like  structure 
was  suffered  to  remain  in  a  shocking  state  of  degrada- 
tion, but  about  forty  years  ago  it  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Mr  S.  S.  Teulon,  a  clever,  but  somewhat 
eccentric  architect,  under  whom  the  present  open 
benches,  chorus  cantorum,  and  devotionally-arranged 
sanctuary  were  erected. 

Scarcely  had  the  foundations  of  the  Lady  Chapel 
been  laid,  when,  immediately  after  Matins  on  the 
Eve  of  the  Festival  of  St  Ermenhilda,  12th  February, 
1322  O.S.,  the  central  tower  collapsed,  ruining  in 
its  fall  that  short  Norman  choir  to  which  Bishop 
Northwold  had  added  his  exquisite  presbytery. 

Alan  of  Walsingham  was  ordered  to  desist  from 
building  the  chapel  and  to  devote  all  his  energies 
to  reinstating  the  tower.  Instead,  however,  of 
rebuilding  it  on  its  former  lines,  he  wholly  removed 
not  only  the  four  great  piers,  but  one  bay  of  nave, 


ELY  77 

choir  and  transepts,  and  adopting  the  eight  next 
pillars  as  the  points  of  support  for  his  new  tower, 
reconstructed  or  enlarged  them  to  such  size  and 
shape  as  would  afford  sufficient  strength  for  a 
magnificent  central  area  of  octagonal  form  covered 
by  that  marvellously  constructed  quasi-domical 
timber  roof  and  graceful  lantern — a  feature  quite 
unique  among  English  cathedrals,  though  having  its 
parallel  in  other  countries.  Twenty-two  years  were 
occupied  in  the  construction  of  this  octagon,  the 
stone  portion  taking  but  six  years,  and  the  woodwork 
sixteen.  It  appears  that  the  lantern  was  a  belfry  and 
contained  a  set  of  bells,  one  of  which  was  discovered 
by  Dr  Harvey  Goodwin  (Dean  of  Ely  from  1858  to 
1869,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Carlisle)  to  have 
weighed  7000  lbs.  That  the  lantern  which  crowns 
the  octagon  harmonised  in  beauty  with  the  rest  of 
the  structure  is  most  probable,  but  it  suffered  so 
much  as  to  its  external  design  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  added  to  what  it  had  already  lost  by  decay 
and  minor  reparations,  as  to  stand  in  need  of  being 
brought  back  to  something  of  its  former  splendour — 
a  great  and  important  undertaking  to  be  alluded  to 
hereafter. 

Alan  of  Walsingham,  from  becoming  prior  in 
1 341,  was  elected  bishop  by  the  monks  three  years 
later,  but  the  Pope  refused  to  confirm  the  choice. 
His  work  was  not  confined  to  the  octagon  and  the 
Lady  Chapel — completed,  by  the  way,  in  1349 — the 
Norman  portion  of  the  choir  that  had  been  ruined 
by  the  fall  of  the  tower  being  rebuilt  under  his 
direction,  if  not  actually  from  his  design,  by  the 
munificence  of  Bishop  Hotham.     As  all  these  works 


78         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

were  in  progress  during  the  second  quarter  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  when  English  Gothic  had  reached 
its  culminating  point,  they  stand  alone  among 
corresponding  works  of  their  epoch,  not  only  in 
beauty,  but  in  the  proportions  of  their  several  parts. 

All  authorities  upon  the  ecclesiology  of  Cambridge- 
shire agree  that  in  pure  examples  of  early  fourteenth- 
century  Gothic,  this  county  holds  a  foremost  place, 
the  influence  of  Alan  de  Walsingham,  Prior  Crauden, 
John  of  Wisbeach,  Bishops  Hotham  and  Montacute, 
vibrating  throughout  the  whole  of  the  diocese,  in 
which  at  this  period  church  building,  like  church 
architecture,  seems  to  have  reached  its  climax. 

At  Ely  the  elaborate  lightness  of  Bishop  Hotham's 
three  western  bays  of  the  choir,  the  skilful  elegance 
of  the  octagon,  and  the  exuberance  of  the  Lady 
Chapel  throw  a  fascinating  spell  over  the  lover  of 
Christian  art,  making  him  keenly  sensitive  of  the 
imperfections  of  the  best  work  of  his  own  day. 

In  the  three  Late  Decorated  bays  of  the  choir  it 
is  surprising  to  find  a  triforium  of  such  lofty 
dimensions  in  fourteenth-century  work ;  for  by 
this  time,  that  member  had  dwindled  into  such 
insignificant  dimensions  as  to  have  become  almost 
a  nonentity,  as  at  Selby  and  Lichfield,  or  was  treated 
as  a  prolongation  of  the  clerestory  as  in  the  nave 
of  York.  The  lofty  triforium  of  Bishop  Northwold 
in  the  presbytery  was  an  inheritance  from  the 
Norman  church,  with  whose  levels  it  was  made  to 
range,  and  Alan  de  Walsingham  so  contrived  his 
elevation  that  its  three  stages,  while  differing  in  toto 
from  the  Norman  of  the  nave  and  transepts  on  one 
hand,  and  the  Early  English  on  the  other,  should 


ELY  •         79 

coincide  at  least  in  proportions  with  both ;  indeed, 
throughout  Ely  Cathedral  this  continuity  of  leading 
lines  is  one  of  its  most  remarkable  features. 

Again,  in  Hotham's  three  bays,  the  shafts  support- 
ing the  vaulting  ribs  spring  from  elongated  corbels, 
and  feature  those  of  Northwold's  work ;  they  are 
likewise  placed  in  the  spandrels  of  the  arches.  The 
triforium  arcades  are  subdivided  into  two  compart- 
ments by  slender  shafts,  the  intervening  space 
between  the  main  and  sub-arcuations  being  filled 
with  tracery,  reminding  one  of  spun  sugar,  but 
designed  with  consummate  skill  and  delicacy.  In 
the  clerestory  a  very  graceful  fringe  gives  additional 
richness  to  the  inner  arches  of  the  windows,  which 
are  of  four  cinque-foiled  lights,  with  tracery  formed  of 
a  number  of  variously-shaped  quatrefoils,  and  also 
of  trefoils  in  the  intervals.  Along  a  graceful  maze 
of  forms  does  the  eye  wander,  conducting  it  to 
various  portions  of  the  window,  but  no  further ; 
the  stern  frame  restrains  as  much  as  ever  it  did 
in  the  Geometrical  phase  of  the  style ;  and  at 
length  it  falls  back  whence  it  came,  rejoicing  in  the 
entirety  of  the  window,  no  longer  in  any  degree  a 
congeries  of  discordant  parts,  but  one,  and  whole, 
and  consistent: 

In  the  Hexameter  rises  the  fountain's  silvery  column, 
In  the  Pentameter  aye  falling  in  melody  back. 

The  same  epoch  of  our  architectural  history 
brought  about  changes  in  the  Early  English  part 
of  the  choir.  These  consisted  chiefly  in  transmuting 
Bishop  Northwold's  coupled  lancets  in  the  aisles 
and  triforia  of  his  presbytery  into  Flowing  Decorated 


8o         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

ones  of  four  lights  apiece.  Fortunately,  however, 
the  east  end,  with  its  double  tier  of  graceful  lancets, 
escaped,  and  we  are  also  lucky  in  the  possession  of 
two  of  the  Early  English  lancets  in  the  southern 
triforium,  though  unglazed ;  for,  with  the  idea  of 
throwing  more  light  upon  the  High  Altar  and  the 
shrines  behind  it,  the  triforia  of  the  first  two  bays 
of  Northwold's  work  were  unroofed,  blocked  off 
from  the  remaining  portion  of  his  work  in  one 
direction,  and  from  that  of  Hotham  in  the  other, 
and  their  arcades  looking  into  the  choir  filled  with 
tracery  assimilated  to  that  in  the  work  of  the 
latter  prelate,  and  glazed. 

By  many  persons  of  taste  these  may  be  thought 
unnecessary  and  unccUled-for  changes,  but  the  great 
works  of  reconstruction  undertaken  in  the  centre 
of  the  church  brought  about  others  that  were 
absolutely  needed  in  the  upper  stages  of  the  nave 
and  transepts. 

These  portions,  none  of  which  had  ever  been 
vaulted,  still  retained  their  flat  wooden  roofs,  such 
as  we  see  to-day  at  Peterborough,  St  Alban's,  and 
Waltham,  but  now,  all  had  to  be  raised  and 
accommodated  to  Alan  de  Walsingham's  three  great 
arches  on  the  north,  south,  and  west  sides  of  his 
glorious  creation,  the  octagon.  The  nave  seems  to 
have  been  first  taken  in  hand  and  provided  with 
an  open  timbered  cradle  roof,  having  every  rafter 
trussed,  and  of  pleasing  form,  but  hardly  intended, 
I  think,  to  remain  visible.  Some  idea  of  the  appear- 
ance of  this  roof  before  Styleman  Le  Strange  under- 
took its  painting — or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  of  the 
ceiling  which  was  affixed  to  it   for  that   purpose — 


ELY  8i 

may  be  gathered  from  that  in  the  nave  of  St 
Matthias'  Church,  Stoke  Newington,  a  specimen  of 
the  late  Mr  Butterfield's  work  in  his  early  and 
more  chastened  method,  and  remarkable,  not  only 
for  its  massive  gabled  tower  rising  at  the  extremity 
of  a  long,  somewhat  narrow  and  very  lofty  nave,  but 
for  an  internal  dignity  and  grandeur  in  which  it  has 
rarely  been  surpassed  by  later  works  of  the  revival. 
Few  modern  London  churches  have  had  a  more 
interesting  history  than  St  Matthias',  exemplifying 
as  it  did  courageous  movements  in  ecclesiasticism. 

In  the  transepts  at  Ely  the  timber  roofs  are  later. 
They  take  a  simple  gabled  form,  with  large  figures 
of  angels  on  their  hammer  beams,  and  as  part  of 
the  great  scheme  of  decoration  set  on  foot  more 
than  half  a  century  ago  by  Dean  Peacock,  have 
received  coloured  enrichment,  which  at  first  was 
somewhat  loud,  but  time  has  toned  down  the  hues 
which  at  present  are  not  inharmonious.  The  chief 
alteration  necessitated  by  the  renewal  of  the  transept 
roofs  was  the  addition  of  a  window  or  windows 
above  the  coupled  Romanesque  ones  already 
existing. 

A  seven-light  one,  rather  low  and  wide  and  with 
Late  Decorated  tracery,  was  given  to  the  southern 
arm,  while  the  opposite  one  was  endowed  with  two 
tall  Perpendicular  windows  of  three  compartments 
each.  Of  course,  had  stone  vaults  been  introduced — 
which  would  probably  have  been  the  case,  had  not 
the  resources  of  the  Chapter  been  so  seriously  drawn 
upon  by  the  great  works  in  the  octagon  and 
choir — there  would  have  been  no  necessity  for  these 
windows.     As  it  is,  however,  the  absence  of  groining 

F 


82         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

and  the  several  tiers  of  stained  glass  windows  in 
the  principal  faces  of  the  transepts  confer  an  extra- 
ordinary effect  of  height  on  this  part  of  the 
cathedral. 

Before  quitting  the  works  of  the  Decorated  period 
at  Ely,  mention  must  be  made  of  the  choir  stalls. 
I  have  already  observed  that  in  the  Norman  church 
the  "chorus  cantorum,"  or  stalls  for  those  engaged 
in  the  singing  and  recitation  of  the  Divine  offices, 
was  arranged  under  the  central  tower,  and  even 
extended  two  bays  into  the  nave,  where  the  actual 
position  of  the  screen  which  closed  it  westward 
may  still  be  distinguished  by  a  niche  against  the 
eleventh  pier  on  either  side. 

The  four  Norman  bays  of  the  eastern  limb  then 
constituted  the  presbytery  and  sanctuary,  the  shrines 
of  the  saints  occupying  the  apse.  These  arrange- 
ments were  somewhat  modified  on  the  addition  of 
Northwold's  presbytery,  the  shrines  being  removed 
into  the  new  work,  though  whether  the  arrangement 
involving  two  altars,  the  choir  altar  and  the  high 
altar  behind  it,  was  introduced,  there  is  not  sufficient 
documentary  evidence  to  show.  On  the  completion 
of  Walsingham's  octagon  no  great  change  was 
introduced  into  the  choral  arrangements  which  had 
existed  before  the  Norman  tower  fell.  The  rood- 
screen  escaped,  but  the  choir  stalls  were  so  com- 
pletely wrecked  that  Walsingham  was  commissioned 
to  design  an  entirely  new  set.  Keeping  up  the 
old  Benedictine  tradition,  these  when  completed 
were  set  up  across  the  octagon,  which  position  they 
retained  until  1770,  when  under  the  direction  of 
James  Essex  they  were  removed  into  the  presbytery, 


ELY  83 

where  they  remained  until  1847,  when  a  more 
intelligent  distribution  of  them  was  decided  upon 
under  the  joint  auspices  of  Dean  Peacock  and  Sir 
Gilbert  Scott. 

Hoping  to  recur  to  this  interesting  topic  in  the 
history  of  Ely  Cathedral  later  on,  I  will  just  briefly 
run  through  the  changes  effected  in  its  structure 
during  the  Perpendicular  period. 

The  most  sweeping  of  these  alterations  was  the 
raising  of  the  triforium  walls  throughout  the  nave 
and  transepts,  except  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
northern  one,  where,  fortunately,  we  are  enabled  to 
gain  an  idea  of  the  old  Norman  arrangement  in 
which  the  walls  are  much  lower  and  the  lean-to 
roofs  constructed  at  a  somewhat  steeply  -  inclined 
plane.  Now,  except  in  the  portion  referred  to,  they 
are  flat,  and  the  windows,  three  light  ones  with 
depressed  heads,  are  of  by  no  means  interesting 
character.  The  original  Norman  fenestration  of  the 
nave  aisles  was  changed  to  Perpendicular,  but  that 
on  the  south  side  has  been  restored  to  its  original 
form. 

A  favourite  dictum  of  Augustus  Welby  Pugin  was 
that  a  tower  to  be  complete,  should  be  terminated 
by  a  spire.  "  Every  tower,"  he  contended,  "  either 
was,  or  was  intended  to  be,  so  finished  during  the 
finest  periods  of  Pointed  architecture.  In  fact,  a 
spire  is  an  ornamental  covering  to  a  tower ;  a  flat 
roof  is  contrary  to  every  principle  of  the  style,  and 
it  was  not  till  the  decline  of  the  art  they  were 
adopted."  What  the  original  termination  of  the 
western  tower  of  Ely  Cathedral  was,  it  is  hardly 
possible    at    this    distance    of    time    to    say    with 


84         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

certainty.  But  when  first  finished  it  is  probable 
that  it  was  surmounted  by  a  spire  of  timber  and 
lead  —  one  of  those  vast  octagonal  pyramids  with 
four  spirelets  rising  from  the  turrets  at  its  base, 
such  as  we  see  to-day  at  Sutton  St  Mary,  one  of  a 
magnificent  series  of  parish  churches  lying  between 
Sleaford  and  King's  Lynn.  At  any  rate,  the  true 
proportions  of  this  tower  were  spoiled  during  the 
episcopate  of  Bishop  Arundel  (1374-88)  by  the 
substitution  of  an  octagonal  stone  lantern,  which, 
although  it  imparts  great  elevation  to  the  mass 
viewed  from  a  distance,  is  of  inferior  workmanship, 
and  by  no  means  commensurate  in  richness  with 
that  of  Bishop  Ridel's  architect. 

The  usual  consequences  ensued  twenty-five  years 
later,  for  the  superincumbent  mass  of  new  Per- 
pendicular masonry  was  found  to  be  pressing  so 
heavily  upon  work  intended  only  to  support  an 
addition  of  light  material,  that  it  became  necessary 
to  remove  the  original  piers  and  a  greater  portion 
of  the  arches  opening  from  this  tower  into  the 
nave,  the  south  -  west  transept  and  the  ruined,  or 
perhaps  never  completed  one  opposite,  and  to 
replace  them  with  others  in  the  style  of  their  age. 
A  light  spire  of  lead,  somewhat  similar  to  those 
which  lend  such  a  character  to  the  towers  of  Hertford- 
shire and  Bedfordshire,  was  placed  upon  this  lantern, 
and  some  idea  of  it  may  be  gathered  from  the  prints 
in  Bentham's  work  on  the  cathedral,  "Boswell's 
Antiquities,"  and  similar  eighteenth-century  publica- 
tions. The  removal  of  this  spirelet  was  threatened 
in  1748,  but  in  consequence  of  petition  and  re- 
monstrance from  the  townsmen  and  dwellers  in  the 


> 


W 


ELY  85 

environing  places,  and  who  were  loth  to  lose  so 
familiar  a  feature  in  the  landscape,  it  was  suffered 
to  remain  for  some  thirty  years  longer,  when  for 
considerations  of  security  it  was  removed. 

Were  Ely  Cathedral  in  possession  of  its  north- 
western transept,  whose  absence  has  never  been 
satisfactorily  accounted  for,  it  would  possess  a 
facade  unrivalled  by  any  other  of  its  age  on  this 
side  of  the  Alps,  notwithstanding  that  sculptured 
imagery  finds  no  place  in  it.  Viewed  in  connection 
with  the  south-west  transept  the  interior  of  the 
lantern,  with  tier  upon  tier  of  arcading,  constitutes 
a  truly  magnificent  spectacle ;  while,  should  the 
great  doors  opening  into  the  Galilee  porch  be  open, 
the  vista  from  the  outer  gates  to  the  double  tier  of 
lancets  at  the  east  end — a  distance  of  517  feet — 
presents  one  of  the  noblest  architectural  spectacles 
the  world  can  show. 

Ely  Cathedral,  so  unique  in  many  respects,  is  no 
less  remarkable  as  possessing  two  of  the  last  efforts 
of  the  expiring  Gothic  style — the  mortuary  chapels 
of  Bishops  Alcock  and  West.  Situated  as  they  are 
at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  north  and  south 
choir  aisles,  respectively,  where  they  can  be  but 
inadequately  viewed,  these  chantries,  perhaps  the 
most  sumptuous  erections  of  their  class  in  the 
kingdom,  afford  singular  evidence  of  how  much 
elaborate  work  may  be  crowded  together  with  but 
little  effect. 

With  these  two  chapels  the  architectural  history  of 
the  cathedral  in  its  mediaeval  aspect  may  be  said  to 
terminate,  for  in  the  next  three  centuries  there  is 
'little  to  chronicle  but  iconoclasm,  apathy,  neglect, 


86         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

and  clumsy,  though  well-meant  attempts  at  restora- 
tion and  repair. 

Iconoclasm  began  at  Ely  under  Bishop  Goodrich, 
a  zealous  partisan  of  the  Reformation — or  as  it  may 
be  more  fitly  styled  from  an  artistic  point  of  view, 
the  Deformation — and  who  occupied  the  See  from 
1534  to  1554.  Seven  years  after  his  elevation  to 
the  episcopal  chair,  injunctions  were  issued  to  the 
clergy  to  see  that  "  all  images,  relics,  table-monuments 
of  miracles,  shrines,  etc,  be  so  totally  demolished 
and  obliterated,  with  all  speed  and  diligence,  that 
no  remains  or  memory  might  be  found  of  them  for 
the  future  " — injunctions  which  Goodrich  lost  no  time 
obeying.  Indeed,  with  such  speed  and  punctuality 
were  these  commands  of  the  Protector  Somerset 
and  his  contemptible  crew  carried  out,  that  not 
only  in  the  cathedral,  but  throughout  the  diocese, 
shrines  and  altars  that  had  hitherto  been  objects 
of  reverence  and  devotion  were  overturned,  so  that 
few  or  no  traces  of  them  are  now  extant.  The 
sculpture  of  the  beautiful  Lady  Chapel  was  specially 
singled  out  for  the  bishop's  maniacal  fury,  and  the 
abomination  of  desolation  sat  in  the  holy  place. 
Even  during  the  early  Caroline  epoch  the  cathedral 
does  not  seem  to  have  recovered  much  of  its  quondam 
splendour,  for  that  Lieutenant,  one  of  a  party  of 
three  gentlemen  of  "  Merry  Norwich,"  alluded  to  in 
the  previous  chapter  on  Durham,  who  set  out  in 
1634  on  a  tour  for  the  purpose  of  acquainting 
themselves  with  the  beauty  and  antiquities  of  their 
own  country,  fairly  bursts  out  into  wrath  when  he 
reaches  Ely.  "  I  must  tell  you,"  he  writes,  "  that 
most   of   her  inhabitants   have   such   a   turfy   scent 


ELY  87 

and  fenny  posture  about  them,  which  smell  I  did 
not  relish  at  all  with  any  content."  There  were  in 
the  choir  eight  singing  men  and  eight  boys ;  the 
music  he  does  not  mention.  The  palace  was 
"  ruinated,  decayed,  and  drooping  for  very  age," 
and  the  church  "  in  deplorable  condition." 

But  that  the  services  at  Ely  were  conducted  with 
more  than  ordinary  decorum  after  the  Reformation 
is  evident  from  the  fact  that  incense  was  burnt  at 
the  High  Altar  on  the  Great  Festivals  up  to  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Dean  Warburton 
discontinued  the  use  of  the  cope  at  Durham  about 
1780  because  it  discomposed  his  wig. 

Minor  Canon  Metcalfe  and  Prebendary  Green  at 
Ely  persuaded  the  Dean  and  Chapter  to  discontinue 
the  use  of  incense,  the  former  because  he  was  troubled 
with  asthmatic  tendencies,  and  the  latter — "a  finical 
man  " — because  it  spoiled  the  odour  of  his  snuff,  to 
which  titillating  compound  he  had,  in  common 
with  many  of  his  clerical  brethren  of  that  day,  an 
excessive  partiality. 

That  the  use  of  incense  at  Ely  should  have  been 
retained  for  so  long  a  period  is  a  valuable 
ecclesiological  fact,  but  a  no  less  true  one,  as  may 
be  gathered  from  the  following  letter  addressed  in 
1869  to  the  then  Dean  (Dr  Harvey  Goodwin, 
presently  Bishop  of  Carlisle),  by  Rev.  George 
Gilbert,  Prebendary  of  Lincoln  and  Vicar  of  Syston, 
near  Grantham : — 

"  Grantham,  yd  April  1869. 

"My  dear  Mr  Dean, — In  regard  to  the  use  of 
incense  in  your  cathedral  church  of  which  we  spoke 


88         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

yesterday,  I  have  to  observe — that  in  the  month  of 
July  1840,  the  Rev.  John  Metcalfe,  Minor  Canon  of 
Canterbury,  informed  me  that  the  use  of  incense  had 
been  continued  at  Ely  to  a  late  period ;  that  his 
father,  the  Rev.  W.  Metcalfe,  Minor  Canon  of  Ely, 
being  troubled  with  asthmatic  tendencies,  found  great 
embarrassment  in  breathing,  when,  discharging  the 
function  of  deacon  in  Ely  Cathedral,  he  had  to  swing 
and  wave  the  vessel  containing  the  said  incense, 
and  earnestly  requested  the  Dean  and  Chapter  to 
discontinue  its  use ;  and  that  the  Dean  and  Chapter 
did  order  the  discontinuance  thereof,  to  his  great 
comfort.  This  took  place,  /  believe^  at  the  latter  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century. 

"  But  as  the  date  of  Mr  Metcalfe's  appointment  to 
the  Minor  Canonry  at  Ely  could  be  easily  ascertained, 
the  period  to  which  its  use  lasted  could  be,  at  least  by 
approximation,  fixed.  I  end  this  formally  by  writing 
that  I  affirm  the  above  statement  to  be  true ;  and  I 
beg  you,  my  dear  Mr  Dean,  to  regard  me  as  yours 
respectfully  and  truly,  GEORGE  GILBERT." 

The  Dean,  on  receiving  the  above  letter,  caused  an 
examination  to  be  made,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether 
the  books  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  contained  any 
entry  with  reference  to  the  discontinuance  of  the 
use  of  incense;  but  nothing  was  found  bearing  on 
the  point. 

In  that  devastation  of  ecclesiastical  property  which 
followed  in  the  train  of  the  great  Civil  War,  Ely 
Cathedral  suffered  terribly,  the  vast  cloisters  being 
entirely  destroyed,  together  with  the  Chapter-house, 
which  latter,  to  judge  from  a  print  in  Bentham's 
monograph,  was  a  small  square,  three-aisled,  Roman- 
esque building,  bearing  a  considerable  resemblance 
internally   to   the  little  chapel  of  St   Bartholomew 


ELY  89 

on  the  north  side  of  Paderborn  Cathedral  in 
Westphalia. 

No  one  who  has  studied  the  ecclesiology  of  East 
Anglia,  with  its  lantern-like  churches,  built  almost 
expressly,  it  would  be  imagined,  for  fenestral  embellish- 
ment, can  avoid  being  struck  with  the  scantiness  of 
the  original  stained  glass  now  remaining  in  this 
part  of  the  country.  Speaking  more  exclusively 
of  Cambridgeshire,  with  the  glorious  exception  of 
King's  College  Chapel,  there  is  hardly  enough  in 
the  whole  county  to  fill  a  dozen  windows.  At 
Ely,  which  doubtless  once  glowed  with  the  pictured 
story  and  the  saintly  effigy,  the  only  remains  are 
some  lovely  fragments  of  canopy  work  in  the  lights 
of  three  windows  in  the  Trinity  Chapel.  But  when 
we  read  the  journal  of  that  sacrilegious  scoundrel, 
Dowsing,  whom  the  Parliamentary  Commissioners 
sent  into  the  eastern  counties  to  devastate  and 
defile  the  churches,  and  to  break  down  all  the 
carved  work  thereof,  the  wonder  is  that  such 
fragments  as  the  recently  restored  Jesse  window 
in  Leverington  Church  have  descended  to  us. 

In  1699  the  north-west  angle  of  the  north  transept 
fell  down,  and  was  rebuilt  shortly  after  from  the 
designs  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  whose  doorway 
and  round-headed  window  above  it  has  been  suffered 
to  remain.  The  great  architect  was  a  nephew  of 
Bishop  Wren,  and  during  his  visits  to  his  uncle  at 
the  palace,  must  have  had  ample  opportunity  for 
studying  Walsingham's  octagon,  from  which  he 
doubtless  derived  some  ideas  for  his  own  noble 
.creation  at  St  Paul's. 

In  1738  the  cathedral  is  described  by  Defoe  in  his 


go         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

"  Travels  "  as  being  "  in  some  parts  so  ancient  that  it 
totters   so   much  with  every  gust  of  wind,  looks  so 
like  a  decay,  and  seems  so  near  it,  that  whenever  it 
does  fall,  all  that  'tis  likely  will  be  thought  strange  in 
it  will  be,  that  it  did  not  fall  a  hundred  years  sooner," 
That  the  structure  was  in  a  perilous  condition  early 
in   the   reign   of  George   III.   is   evident    from    the 
fact  that  about   1768  James  Essex — who  had  been 
employed  by   Bentham   to  prepare   illustrations  for 
his  "  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Conventual  and 
Cathedral  Church  of  Ely" — found,  on   his  appoint- 
ment as  surveyor  to  the  fabric,  that  the  east  end  of 
the   choir  was   two    feet   out  of  the   perpendicular. 
Essex  was  by  no  means  appreciative  of  the  merits 
of  Gothic,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  epoch  in 
which  his  lot  was  cast,  but  he  may  be  fairly  described 
as  the  first  professional  architect  of  the  last  century 
who  made   a  study  of  the  Pointed  styles.     He  was 
also  engaged  on  sundry  works  in  and  about  Lincoln 
Cathedral,  dying    in    1784,  just    as    Wyatt   had,  in 
the  opinion  of  contemporary  critics,  established  his 
reputation  as  an  "elegant  exponent  of  the   Gothic 
taste."     Whatever   his   shortcomings   as   an  original 
architect  may  have  been,  Essex  undoubtedly  rendered 
signal  service  to  Ely  Cathedral,  for,  by  an  ingenious 
arrangement    of    bolts    and    screws,   he    effectually 
restored  the  east  end  to  its  proper  position. 

Itwas  under  his  direction  that  Alan  de Walsingham's 
stalls,  which  for  four  centuries  had  retained  their 
original  position  beneath  the  octagon,  were  removed 
into  the  presbytery,  the  Chapter  responsible  for  the 
alteration  having  more  regard  for  snugness  and  comfort 
than  any  lingering  sentiments  for  mediaeval  tradition. 


ELY  91 

Thus  removed,  the  stalls  occupied  the  first  four 
bays  of  this  portion  of  the  choir.  An  organ  screen, 
designed  by  Essex,  closed  it  westward  and  projected 
into  one  bay  of  Hotham's  work,  the  remaining  two 
forming  an  ante-choir,  or,  as  it  was  now  styled,  the 
Sermon  Place,  from  the  presence  of  a  pseudo-Norman 
pulpit  set  up  there  from  the  designs  of  a  local 
architect  named  Groves,  portions  of  which,  together 
with  the  Renaissance  organ-case  discarded  in  the 
restoration  of  1848-52,  I  discovered  stowed  away  as 
lumber  in  the  triforia  during  a  recent  visit. 

Bentham,  writing  in  1770,  informs  us  that  Bishop 
Mawson  offered  to  contribute  ;^iooo  towards  defray- 
ing the  charge  of  removing  the  choir-stalls,  paving 
the  floor  with  black  and  white  marble,  and  filling 
the  eastern  lancets  with  stained  glass  —  "  an  elegant 
design  for  which  hath  been  settled,  and  is  to  be 
executed  by  an  eminent  Artist,  under  the  inspection 
of  a  Gentleman  of  the  most  approved  taste." 

The  good  bishop  died,  however,  before  these 
changes  could  become  an  accomplished  fact,  for 
they  were  in  the  full  flow  of  progress  as  Bentham 
was  seeing  the  last  sheets  of  his  "Antiquities" 
through  the  press. 

Some  idea  of  the  appearance  presented  by  the 
choir  of  Ely  Cathedral  between  1770  and  1847  may 
be  gleaned  from  a  plate  in  "  Winkles'  Cathedrals," 
but  better  still  from  a  water-colour  in  the  picture 
gallery  of  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  by 
Richard  Hamilton  Essex  (1802-55).^  In  1847  Mr 
Essex    made    most    careful    drawings    of    a    series 

*  Presumably  a  relative  of  the  architect,  but  this  I  am  unable 
to  substantiate. 


92         CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

of  frescoes  illustrating  the  generous  protection 
afforded  by  the  Blessed  Virgin  to  her  votaries  in 
all  ages  and  countries,  that  had  been  discovered  on 
the  walls  of  Eton  College  Chapel  during  its  restora- 
tion under  an  architect  named  Deason. 

Unfortunately  the  clerk  of  the  works  had  caused 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  upper  row  of  frescoes 
to  be  obliterated  before  he  was  stopped  by  one  of 
the  Fellows,  and  before  the  remainder  were  once  more 
concealed  by  the  backs  to  the  stalls,  Dr  Hawtrey 
commissioned  Mr  Essex  to  make  drawings  of  them. 
These  are  preserved  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum  at 
Cambridge,  and  afford  excellent  studies  in  the 
costume  of  the  time,  1479-88.  Subsequently, 
photographs  were  taken  of  Essex's  drawings,  and 
a  copy  is  in  possession  of  the  Bishop  of  Ely  and 
Lady  Alwyne  Compton. 

Charles  Wild  in  his  fine  series  of  "  Twelve  English 
Cathedrals,  and  Collegiate  Chapels,"  published  about 
1830  in  a  portfolio,  but  without  letterpress,  gives  a 
view  of  the  choir  as  seen  from  the  western  arch  of 
the  octagon,  showing  the  organ  upon  its  screen  at 
the  entrance.  Like  everything  else  from  the  pencil  of 
that  talented  draughtsman,  this  view  is  a  very  faithful 
one. 

In  a  lethargic  state  the  great  church  remained 
until  1839,  when  the  installation  of  George  Peacock 
as  Dean,  almost  coincident  as  it  was  with  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Cambridge  Camden  Society,  marks  an 
epoch  in  religious  architecture  and  art,  important 
not  to  Ely  alone  but  to  the  English  Church  at  large. 
At  that  time  the  fabric  was  in  charge  of  Mr  Basevi, 
the  architect,  inter  alia,  of  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum 


ELY  93 

at  Cambridge,  and  who,  while  on  a  tour  of  inspection 
with  Dean  Peacock  in  the  western  tower  on  the 
1 6th  of  October  1845,  missed  his  footing  in  one  of 
the  arcaded  galleries,  fell  to  the  floor  of  the  church, 
and  was  killed  instantaneously.  After  this  sad 
event  the  works  were  managed  by  the  Dean  and 
Professor  Willis  until  1847,  when  Sir  Gilbert  (then 
Mr)  Scott  was  appointed  architect  and  surveyor  to 
the  fabric. 

Sir  Gilbert's  recollections  of  Ely  Cathedral  dated 
from  1828,  at  which  time  the  south-western  transept, 
which  had  been  shorn  of  its  apsidal  St  Catherine's 
chapel,  was  a  rough  workshop  or  lumber-room,  cut  off 
from  the  rest  of  the  church,  while  the  lantern  stories  of 
the  western  tower  were  subdivided  by  two  timber 
floors,  and  thus  shut  out  from  internal  view.  The 
first  thing  Dean  Peacock  did  was  to  bring  back  this 
part  of  the  church  to  something  of  its  former  grandeur, 
a  work  in  which  he  received  great  assistance  from 
the  then  precentor.  Rev.  Mr  Stewart,  and  with  the 
occasional  advice  of  Mr  Basevi. 

To  see  the  octagon  utilised  for  public  worship  was 
Dean  Peacock's  earnest  wish.  With  this  object  he 
invited  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  to  prepare  designs  for  the 
redistribution  of  the  choral  fittings,  and  these,  when 
exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  of  1848,  excited 
great  admiration,  as  much  for  their  richness  and 
splendour,  as  for  their  originality  of  conception. 
Indeed,  when  we  remember  they  were  made  nearly 
sixty  years  ago,  when  experience  was  very  young, 
they  must  be  considered  truly  wonderful.  Continental 
cathedral  choirs  may  be  more  imposing  as  regards 
their  architectural   proportions,   but    I    cannot  recall 


94         CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

one  so  thoroughly  devotional  in  all  its  ritual  arrange- 
ments as  that  of  Ely. 

The  works  of  Northwold  and  Hotham  had  been  so 
maltreated  at  different   times  during  the   preceding 
three  centuries,   particularly   the   presbytery,   whose 
beautiful  Purbeck  marble  had  been  bedaubed  again 
and  again  with  that  Hanoverian  panacea  for  all  ills — 
whitewash— that  fully  four  years  were   occupied  in 
setting  matters  right.     However,  the  great  ecclesio- 
logical  knowledge  of  the  Dean,  and  the  skill  of  the 
architect,  overcame  all  obstacles,  and  in  1852  the  works 
in  the  choir  were  finished,  with  the  exception  of  the 
reredos   and    the    stained    glass,   which    were    later 
additions.     The  stalls  were  brought  down  from  the 
presbytery,  where  they  had  been  thrust  by  Essex, 
and  made  to  occupy  the  space  between  the  eastern 
arch  of  the  octagon  and  that  large  shaft — the  pier  of 
Abbot  Simeon's  apse   which  remained   attached   to 
his   four  Norman   choir   bays  after   the  addition  of 
Northwold's  work,  and  which  was  suffered  to  retain 
its  place  when  Hotham  rebuilt  Simeon's  choir  after 
the  fall  of  the  tower.     Thus,  beyond  the  choir  proper 
there   remain   the   six   Early  English   bays,  four  of 
which    compose    an    ample    presbytery,    while    the 
remaining  two — Sir  Gilbert  Scott  pressed  for  three — 
open  into  an  ambulatory  behind  the  High  Altar. 

Acting  on  the  suggestion  of  Professor  Willis,  the 
precedent  existing  in  Henry  VH.'s  chapel  at  West- 
minster of  retaining  only  one  return  stall  on  either 
side  the  entrance  to  the  choir,  was  followed  in  1848 
at  Ely.  These  stalls  are  those  of  the  bishop  and 
dean.  For,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  that  as  the 
bishop  took  the  place  here  of  the  former  abbot,  he 


ELY  95 

also  took  his  stall  on  the  south  side  of  the  entrance, 
the  prior  taking  the  corresponding  stall  on  the  north 
side. 

When,  at  the  Dissolution,  the  dean  superseded  the 
prior,  he  took  his  stall  on  the  left-hand  side,  and 
every  succeeding  dean  has  occupied  the  same  seat, 
so  that  at  Ely  Cathedral  alone  there  is  no  bishop's 
throne  in  the  usual  position,  viz. :  the  east  end  of  the 
southern  range  of  stalls,  while  the  dean  occupies 
traditionally  the  side  opposite  to  his  customary 
position. 

Bishop  Turton,  the  occupant  of  the  See,  while  these 
works  were  in  progress,  much  wished  to  have  a  throne 
in  the  accustomed  place,  but  to  this  Sir  Gilbert  Scott 
would  not  consent,  and  there  was  also  a  project  to 
take  out  the  backs  of  some  of  the  stalls  in  order  to 
form  closets  or  private  boxes  for  "  the  Close  families," 
such  as  existed  at  Durham  and  Peterborough,  and 
which  we  see  to-day  at  St  Paul's,  where,  however, 
they  form  part  of  the  original  design,  but  this  scheme 
was  fortunately  nipped  in  the  bud. 

Anent  Bishop  Turton  and  the  anomalous  position 
of  the  episcopal  throne  at  Ely,  Mr  G.  W.  E.  Russell 
tells  the  following  story  in  his  entertaining  book, 
"  Collections  and  Recollections.  " 

"When  in  1864  Dr  Harold  Browne  became  Bishop 
of  Ely,  he  asked  the  head  verger  some  questions  as 
to  where  his  predecessor  (Dr  Turton)  had  been 
accustomed  to  sit  in  the  cathedral,  what  part  he 
had  taken  in  the  services,  and  so  on. 

"The  verger  proved  quite  unable  to  supply  the 
required  information,  and  said,  in  self-excuse, '  Well, 
you  see.  My  Lord,  his  late  Lordship  wasn't  at  all  a 


96         CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

church-going  gentleman,'  which  being  interpreted, 
meant  that,  on  account  of  age  and  infirmities, 
Bishop  Turton  had  long  confined  his  ministrations 
to  his  private  chapel." 

Bishop  Turton  was  a  composer  of  no  mean  order, 
as  is  proved  by  that  excellent  tune  "  St  Etheldreda  " 
wedded,  and  very  appropriately,  by  the  compilers  of 
Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern  to  those  stanzas  for 
St  Luke's  Day  commencing  "What  thanks  and 
praise  to  Thee  we  owe,"  in  which  the  Gospel 
Canticles  are  so  beautifully  alluded  to. 

Rev.  W.  E.  Dickson,  to  whom  the  cathedral 
services  at  Ely  owe  so  much,  and  who  held  the 
post  of  precentor  from  1858  to  1893,  tells  us  in  his 
"  Fifty  Years  of  Church  Music  "  that  Bishop  Turton's 
last  appearance  at  any  public  function  was  on  the 
occasion  of  the  consecration  of  the  new  cemetery  in 
i860.  As  the  venerable  old  man  proceeded  with 
tottering  steps  along  the  alleys  of  the  burying 
ground,  supported  by  the  friendly  arm  of  one  of 
the  canons,  his  own  solemn  tune,  still  used  in  MS. 
at  Ely  to  the  words  "  O  Thou,  from  Whom  all  good- 
ness flows,"  was  sung  by  the  choir.  His  memory  was 
so  much  impaired  that  he  did  not  recognise  it,  but 
at  a  subsequent  collation,  he  was  pleased  to  express 
his  thanks  for  the  little  compliment  which  had  been 
paid  him. 

Precentor  Dickson's  acquaintance  with  Ely  was 
made  in  1842  during  his  undergraduate  days  at 
Cambridge.  He  was  much  impressed  with  the 
quiet  dignity  and  gravity  of  the  service,  and  relates 
how  he  was  placed  in  the  stalls,  near  to  the 
distinguished   Dean    Peacock  and   to   the  Canon  in 


ELY  97 

Residence  Dr  Mill,  the  two  great  scholars  sharing 
between  them  a  bass  copy  of  the  music  for  the  day. 
At   this  period   the  organ  stood  upon  the  screen 
at  the  entrance   to   the    choir,   then   established   in 
the  six  last  bays  of  the  eastern  arm  of  the  cross. 
Originally  the  work  of  Gerard  Smith  (c.  1692),  it  had, 
when   Mr   Dickson   first   knew   it,   been    rebuilt   by 
Elliot  and  Hill,  under  the  direction  of  the  organist 
Mr  Janes,   the   handsome   Renaissance    case    being 
preserved.     When  Janes  entered  upon  his  duties  in 
183 1  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  found  choral  matters 
at  Ely  at  a  very  low  ebb.     With  the  laudable  idea 
of  redeeming  the  Versicles  and  Responses  from  that 
dull   monotony  of    mere    recitation   into   which,   as 
at    Peterborough    and    Rochester,    they    had    been 
allowed  to  drop,  through  the  appointment  (contrary 
to  the  statutes)  of  minor  canons  ignorant  of  music 
and  therefore  unable   to   chant,  he   applied   himself 
to  the  task   of  harmonising  them,  and   commenced 
with  the  General   Confession.     But  the  enthusiastic 
young  organist  got  no  further,  for  the  minor  canons 
threatened  him  with  dire  penalties  for  presuming  to 
lengthen  the  service. 

"  We  have  reason,  I  think,"  says  Precentor  Dickson, 
"to  be  grateful  to  them,  though  we  may  not  hold 
their  motive  in  high  honour.  Ely  had  its  ancient 
'  Use,'  which  had  been  silenced  during  sixty  or 
seventy  years  of  apathy  and  coldness,  but  when 
chanting  was  resumed  in  Dean  Peacock's  time,  great 
embarrassment  might  have  ensued  if  a  modern  set  of 
Preces  and  Versicles  had  blocked  the  way  to  a 
resumption  of  the  true  Plain  Song."  Such  was  the 
origin  of  the  "Ely  Confession,"  which  some  years 

G 


98         CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

ago  enjoyed  a  great  popularity  with  choirs,  but  it 
has  since  waned.  Janes,  who  held  the  post  of 
organist  for  thirty-five  years,  when  he  was  succeeded 
by  Dr  E.  T.  Chipp,  edited  a  Psalter  which,  in  a 
revised  form,  is  still  in  use  at  Ely. 

Beautiful  and  elaborate  both  in  design  and  execu- 
tion is  the  oak  and  metal  screen  separating  the  choir 
from  the  octagon,  yet  neither  ritually  nor  aestheti- 
cally is  it  altogether  satisfactory.  Forming  as  it  does 
a  pendant  to  Walsingham's  stalls,  it  might  with 
advantage  have  imitated  more  closely  the  precise 
character  of  the  design.  Unfortunately,  this  space 
between  the  octagon  and  the  great  separating  half 
piers  did  not  admit  of  the  whole  of  the  fourteenth- 
century  stalls.^  The  superfluous  ones  were  used, 
of  course,  without  their  canopies,  for  the  western  sub- 
sellae,  the  whole  range  of  subsellae  on  each  side 
being  completed  to  match  with  the  stalls  and 
misereres.  All  the  new  work  was  executed  by 
Messrs  Rattee  and  Kett  of  Cambridge. 

Sir  Gilbert  Scott's  treatment  of  the  organ  case, 
doubtless  suggested  to  him  during  one  of  his 
Continental  tours  in  search  of  material  for  his 
church  at  Hamburg,  by  that  in  Strasburg  Cathedral, 
was  most  masterly. 

It  is  apparently  pendant  above  the  northern  range 
of  stalls,  but  the  position  of  the  player,  at  the  back  of 
the  lower  part  of  the  case,  is  unfavourable  to  him, 
and  though  he  hears  well  the  voices  of  the  choir,  the 

^  Portions  of  the  canopies  are  lying  as  lumber  in  the  triforium. 
It  seems  a  pity  that  they  cannot  be  utilised  as,  for  instance,  to 
form  Sedilia,  in  which,  architecturally  speaking,  the  sanctuary 
is  deficient. 


ELY  99 

tones  of  his  fine  instrument  reach  him  imperfectly. 
Mr  Castell  of  London  decorated  the  organ  pipes 
and  case  with  much  taste.  The  forty-nine  scriptural 
groups  which  fill  the  spaces  of  the  stalls  between  their 
arcades  and  surmounting  canopies  were  added  later. 
They  are  from  the  ateliers  of  Abeloos  of  Louvain. 

In  the  new  portions  of  the  stall  work  significance 
was  given  to  the  statuettes  by  making  them  represent 
the  chief  founders  or  builders  of  the  cathedral,  and 
holding  scrolls  inscribed  with  the  ground  plans  of  the 
parts  of  the  fabric  with  which  each  was  connected. 

When  the  choir  was  re-opened  in  1852,  a  temporary 
framework  covered  with  a  red  flowered  cloth,  divided 
the  six-bayed  presbytery  into  two  equal  parts,  the 
altar  being  vested  in  that  frontal  from  the  accom- 
plished needle  of  Miss  Agnes  Blencowe,  which  is  still 
in  use  during  the  Epiphany  and  Trinity  seasons. 
As  one  of  the  earliest  specimens  of  ecclesiastical  work 
in  this  department  it  may  be  regarded  as  quite  a 
triumph  of  art,  and  merits  some  description.  Its 
colour  is  crimson,  and  the  length  is  divided  into 
three  parts.  The  middle  contains  a  very  beautiful 
figure  of  Our  Lord  as  risen,  from  the  original  of 
Taddeo  Gaddi,  contained  within  a  pointed  aureole  of 
a  deep  blue  and  bordered  by  radiating  beams. 
Broad  orphreys  embroidered  with  flowers  divide  the 
middle  compartment  from  the  sides,  which  are  of  red 
velvet  powdered  with  conventional  flowers,  and  along 
the  superfrontal  is  the  legend  :  "  Agnus  Dei  qui 
tollis  peccata  mundi  dona  nobis  pacem,  Agnus  Dei 
miserere  nobis."  The  groups  in  the  reredos,  com- 
pleted in  1856,  and,  like  those  in  the  same  position 
at   St  John's,  Bedrainster,  remarkable  as   being  the 


lOo       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

earliest  in  which  sculptured  scenes  from  the  Life  of 
Our  Lord  were  introduced  on  so  large  a  scale  since 
the  Reformation,  are  from  the  chisel  of  Philip. 

The  material  is  alabaster,  temperately  coloured  by 
Octavius  Hudson,  and  the  whole  forms,  together 
with  the  environing  tombs  of  Bishops  Redmayne, 
Kilkenny,  Hotham,  De  Luda,  and  Barnet,  and  that 
of  Tiptoft,  Earl  of  Worcester,  a  most  graceful  and 
at  the  same  time  imposing  assemblage  of  works  in 
ancient  and  modern  sculpture. 

The  mediaeval  glazing  of  Ely  Cathedral  having 
disappeared  entirely,  as  I  have  already  said,  during 
the  Great  Rebellion,  the  church  remained  entirely 
destitute  of  fenestral  embellishment  until  the  epis- 
copate of  Bishop  Keene  (i 771-81).  His  predecessor 
Bishop  Mawson,  who  filled  the  episcopal  chair  during 
the  sixteen  years  previous,  had  agreed  with  an  artist 
— probably  Peckitt  of  York  —  to  fill  the  eight  lancets 
at  the  east  end  of  the  choir  with  stained  glass,  but 
the  good  prelate  died  before  his  pious  wishes  could 
be  carried  into  effect.  It  is  said  that  the  artist  was 
unable  to  fulfil  his  contract,  a  figure  of  St  Peter — 
now  in  the  last  window  of  the  northern  nave 
triforium  —  and  some  heraldic  work,  being  alone 
finished  and  inserted  in  the  three  lower  lancets  about 
the  time  Essex  rearranged  the  choral  fittings.  This 
glass,  interesting  as  a  proof  of  how  the  art  never 
completely  died  out  in  England,  much  as  it  may 
have  been  travestied,  constituted,  together  with  the 
cinque-cento  foreign  glass  presented  to  the  west 
window  of  the  nave  early  in  the  last  century  by 
Bishop  Yorke  and  Dr  Thomas  Waddington,  a 
prebendary  of  the  Fifth  Stall,  and  some  heavy  work 


ELY  loi 

of  about  1840  by  Evans  in  Bishop  West's  Chapel, 
the  only  fenestral  embellishment  of  the  church  when 
the  restorations  under  Scott  were  commenced.  Since 
then,  splendid  individual  munificence  has  enabled 
many  of  the  windows  to  be  filled  with  stained  glass, 
some  of  which  is  of  great  excellence,  while  in  others 
it  is  distressing  to  find  unstinted  liberality  so  in- 
adequately responded  to  by  the  skill  of  both  artist 
and  artificer. 

However,  when  we  remember  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  work  was  carried  out  between  1850  and  i860, 
criticism  is  to  a  certain  extent  disarmed. 

The  stained  glass  which  so  beautifully  terminates 
the  unrivalled  vista  of  517  feet,  is  perhaps  one  of 
Wailes'  most  satisfactory  productions  ;  indeed,  for 
brilliancy  and  clever  contrasts  of  colour  it  approaches 
the  best  French  work  of  the  thirteenth  century.  It 
is  rich  and  harmonious  without  the  trickery  of 
antiquation,  and  the  subjects  are  distinct  without 
impoverishing  the  grounds.  For  this  glass,  a  noble 
legacy  of  ;^ 1 500  was  bequeathed  in  1836  by  Bishop 
Sparke,  whose  kneeling  figure  may  be  discerned  at 
the  bottom  of  the  northern  lancet  in  the  lower  tier, 
but  in  view  of  the  unsatisfactory  state  of  the  art  at 
that  period  it  was  decided  to  postpone  its  execution 
until  a  more  accurate  knowledge  had  been  gained  of 
its  true  principles  from  diligent  study  of  ancient 
examples. 

Under  the  constant  supervision  of  Sir  Gilbert 
Scott  and  Canon  Sparke,  Wailes  took  great  pains 
with  this  glass,  which  was  entirely  fixed  before  the 
close  of  1857,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  its 
effect,  combined  with  the  high  altar  and  the  restored 


162       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLANi3 

choir  generally,  is  exceedingly  fine — the  result,  not 
only  of  much  learned  study,  but  of  refined  and  pious 
feeling. 

Beside  that  in  the  east  windows,  Wailes  executed 
other  stained  glass  at  Ely.  That  in  the  four  large 
windows  lighting  the  oblique  sides  of  the  octagon  is 
his,  and  representing  as  it  does  single  effigies  of 
persons  connected  with  the  conventual  and  cathedral 
church,  at  different  epochs  of  its  history,  caught  in 
a  considerable  degree  the  tone  of  old  glass.  The 
figures,  however,  of  the  late  Queen,  Prince  Albert, 
Bishop  Turton  and  Dean  Peacock  in  the  south- 
western of  these  windows  prove,  in  an  unpleasant 
degree,  how  very  unsuitable  is  modern  costume  for 
such  a  purpose. 

Of  great  richness  and  brilliancy  of  tincture,  and 
striking  from  its  distinctness,  is  Wailes'  glass  in  the 
three  clerestory  windows  on  either  side  of  Bishop 
Hotham's  work  in  the  choir.  It  illustrates  the 
TV  Deum.  The  figures  which  stand  boldly  out 
from  grounds  of  red,  blue  or  green,  represent, 
on  the  north  side,  the  "  Noble  Army  of  Martyrs," 
and  on  the  south,  by  figures  of  teachers  and  doctors, 
"  The  Holy  Church  throughout  all  the  World."  In 
each  of  the  two  Late  Decorated  windows  on  the 
triforium  level  in  Northwold's  work,  a  band  of 
small  groups  with  pattern-work  above  and  below 
is  introduced  with  happy  effect,  while  for  the 
graceful  tripled  lancets  throughout  the  triforium 
of  this  part  of  the  cathedral,  figures  in  ovals  on 
grisaille  grounds  have  been  employed.  But  here, 
as  in  other  of  Wailes'  work,  the  only  jarring  note 
in  the  scheme  of  colour  is  a  too  vivid  green. 


ELY  103 

In  the  south  transept  the  best  stained  glass  is  that 
in  the  four  large  Romanesque  windows  of  the  south 
end,  all  of  which  were  treated  by  their  executants, 
Henri  and  Alfred  Gerente,  of  Paris,  in  the  mosaic 
style.  The  two  illustrating  the  histories  of  Joseph 
and  Moses  are  interesting  as  being  the  first  works 
executed  in  England  by  the  more  accomplished  of 
the  brothers,  Henri,  who  died  of  cholera  at  Paris  in 
1849,  just  when  he  seemed  raised  up  to  do  great 
things.  Henri  Gerente  was  a  true  artist,  not  a  mere 
archaeologist  nor  an  antiquator,  but  one  who  had 
laboured  for  the  general  effect  as  well  as  for  the 
perfection  of  one  detail  or  the  other,  and  who  always 
took  into  account  the  locality  for  which  he  was  work- 
ing. Through  the  instrumentality  of  Beresford 
Hope,  Gerente  was  entrusted  with  the  fenestra' 
embellishment  of  the  Ecclesiological  Society's 
"  Model  Church" — All  Saints,  Margaret's  Street,  his 
designs  for  the  great  west  window  there  being  based 
upon  a  study  of  the  celebrated  Radix  Jesse  in  the 
choir  of  Wells  Cathedral,  but  he  was  called  away 
from  earth  before  the  work,  which  was  eventually 
executed  by  his  brother  Alfred,  could  be  put  in  hand. 
Howes'  work  in  the  long,  low  Early  Perpendicular 
window  within  the  gable  is  likewise  commendable, 
evincing  as  it  does  a  desire  to  do  what  is  right.  The 
figures,  very  archaically  treated,  are  those  of  Our 
Lord  and  six  patriarchs,  all  on  deep  blue  grounds. 
In  the  opposite  transept  the  two  Romanesque 
windows  of  the  middle  tier  are  particularly  unpleasant 
exemplars  of  that  want  of  uniformity  which  has  too 
often  proved  the  bane  of  modern  vitreous  decoration, 
one  being  by  Wailes,  the  other  by  Rev.  A.  Moore,  an 


I04       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

accomplished  amateur,  and  whose  work  has  certainly 
caught  the  tone  of  old  work  in  a  far  greater  degree 
than  that  of  the  professional.  Ward  and  Hughes' 
large  figures  in  the  tall  Perpendicular  windows  of 
the  top  tier,  although  large  and  striking,  are  certainly 
not  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  their  age  either  in 
drawing  or  coloration,  and  the  same  must  be  said 
of  all  the  glass  in  the  north  aisle  of  the  nave,  where 
the  windows  are  Perpendicular  insertions.  Different 
artists — some  of  whom  have  made  presents  of  their 
work  to  the  cathedral — have  been  employed,  and 
the  result,  as  usual  under  such  circumstances,  is 
unsatisfactory. 

A  window  by  Oliphant  from  cartoons  by  Dyce, 
and  representing  David  and  the  Minstrels,  is 
perhaps  the  best,  but  this  is  saying  a  good  deal.  In 
the  opposite  aisle,  all  the  windows,  with  one  excep- 
tion, have  been  restored  to  their  original  Roman- 
esque form,  and  here,  the  several  artists — Gerente, 
Warrington,  Howes,  Gibbs,  Wailes,  Hardman  and, 
Moore — have  been  more  successful.  It  were  tedious 
to  particularise  these  windows  and  their  executants, 
but  two  may  be  singled  out  for  special  commenda- 
tion— viz.,  the  first  counting  from  the  east.  One  of 
these,  the  window  above  the  cloister  entrance,  fixed 
in  1850,  was  the  work  of  the  very  clever  amateur 
above  alluded  to— Rev  A.  Moore,  Rector  of  Walpole, 
St  Peter's,  near  Wisbeach.  It  represents  four  episodes 
in  the  Life  of  Solomon,  and  not  only  in  the  groups, 
but  throughout  the  entire  work,  a  master  mind  and 
a  master  hand  are  apparent,  in  the  disposition  and 
general  treatment  of  the  composition,  in  the  judicious 
adjustment  and  nice  balance  of  the  tinctures,  and  in 


ELY  105 

that  combination  of  deep  and  solemn  tone  and  hues 
glowing  with  lustrous  brilliancy,  which  is  at  once 
the  essential  attribute  and  the  distinctive  character- 
istic of  the  Mosaic  period  of  the  art.  The  other 
window,  representing  three  subjects  from  the  Life  of 
David,  and  one  of  the  few  inserted  Perpendicular 
ones  that  have  been  retained  in  this  aisle,  is  by 
Hardman,  and  illustrates  that  artist  at  a  time  when 
he  was  still  under  the  influence  of  Pugin.  It  is,  how- 
ever, difficult  to  conceive  how  anything  so  atrocious 
or  so  totally  alien  to  Romanesque  feeling  as  Wilms- 
hurst's  "  landscape "  glass  could  have  been  allowed 
to  slip  into  the  windows  of  St  Catherine's  Chapel 
opening  out  of  the  south-west  transept. 

Generally  speaking,  the  glass  in  the  large  four- 
light  windows  of  the  choir  aisles  is  jejune  artistically, 
though  uniformity  has  been  aimed  at,  as  evinced 
by  the  arrangement  of  their  subjects  into  groups, 
which  are  enclosed  in  square  compartments  and 
not  allowed  to  sprawl  through  the  entire  framework. 
But  in  Bishop  Alcock's  chapel  there  is  one  of  the 
most  superb  pieces  of  stained  glass  that  our  own 
day  has  produced.  Inserted  in  1900  in  commemora- 
tion of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  their  marriage  by 
the  Bishop  of  Ely  and  Lady  Alwyne  Compton,  it  is 
from  the  ateliers  of  Messrs  Clayton  and  Bell,  Mr  J.  R. 
Clayton  himself  having  supervised  with  scrupulous 
care  every)  detail  of  this  window.  It  represents  the 
four  great  ecclesiastics  to  whom  Ely  Cathedral  is 
indebted  for  so  much  of  her  magnificence — North- 
wold,  Walsingham,  Hotham  and  Alcock. 

The  cathedral  may  be  said  to  possess  almost  the 
Alpha    and   Omega   of  Messrs  Clayton   and   Bell's 


io6       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

work,  for  in  the  three-light  Perpendicular  window  of 
the  Vicars  Choral  Vestry  (formed  in  the  eastern  aisle 
of  the  north  transept)  is  one  of  the  earliest  produc- 
tions of  those  artists,  and  like  the  majority  of  their 
works  executed  at  this  period  (i  860-70),  archaic  in 
its  treatment.  There  are  two  tiers  of  subjects — 
the  Nativity  and  Epiphany  combined,  below,  and 
the  Crucifixion  above.  For  the  time  of  its  insertion 
it  is  one  of  the  best  windows  in  the  cathedral. 

The  architecture  and  decoration  of  his  cathedral 
was  not  Dean  Peacock's  only  care.  The  daily 
choral  service  was  dear  to  him,  and  it  was  his 
musical  knowledge,  his  anxious  solicitude  for  the 
reverence  due  to  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary,  and 
his  personal  attendance,  that  raised  and  sustained 
its  standard.  He  died  on  the  7th  of  November  1858, 
and  as  his  remains  were  borne,  five  days  afterwards, 
up  the  long  drawn  nave  beneath  the  scaffolding 
reared  for  that  gigantic  work  he  had  promoted,  but 
which  neither  he  nor  its  artist  was  destined  to  see 
accomplished — the  painting  of  the  nave  ceiling — 
the  sun  of  a  late  autumn  afternoon  was  shining 
through  those  painted  windows  of  the  south  aisle 
which  had  been  the  objects  of  his  peculiar  solicitude. 
The  first  portion  of  the  Burial  office  having  been 
performed  in  the  choir  with  due  musical  solemnity, 
the  procession  re-formed  and  filed  through  the  city 
to  the  cemetery ,1  the  anthems  incidental  to  the  com- 
mittal portion  of  the  service  rising  and  falling  with 

^  It  seemed  very  hard  that  while  the  obscure  relative  of  a 
former  bishop  of  Ely  was  allowed  to  be  buried  within  the 
church,  Dean  Peacock  should  have  been  interred  in  the  town 
cemetery,  which  at  that  time  was  unconsecrated. 


fiLY  idf 

impressive  effect  in  the  frosty  air  from  that  secluded 
hillside  facing  the  grey  cathedral  which  the  good 
Dean  had  loved  so  well,  and  for  nearly  twenty  years 
so  faithfully  served. 

Of  Dean  Peacock,  the  Comte  de  Montalembert — the 
Pugin  of  France,  if  I  may  so  express  it — speaks  with 
warmth  in  his  singularly  fair  and  friendly  volume, 
"  De  I'Avenir  Politique  de  I'Angleterre,"  published 
about  1856.  Referring,  tnUr  a/ta,  to  "la  renaissance 
architecturale  qui  a  delate  avec  tant  d'energie  au 
sein  du  clerg6  Anglicain,"  he  instances  as  a  model, 
Ely  Cathedral,  "  merveilleux  monument  du  gdnie 
monastique,  restaur^  par  les  soins  de  M.  Peacock, 
doyen  du  chapitre  Anglicain,  avec  autant  de  science 
que  de  splendeur." 

The  work  of  restoring  and  embellishing  a  church 
that  was  one  of  the  first  to  open  its  doors  to  the 
sculptor  and  painter,  was  not  permitted  to  languish 
on  the  death  of  its  promoter.  It  was  pushed  forward 
with  equal  vigour  by  his  successor,  Dr  Harvey 
Goodwin  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Carlisle),  the  two 
great  works  that  mark  his  tenure  of  the  deanery 
(1858-69)  being  the  restoration  of  the  octagon  and 
lantern,  and  the  painting  of  the  nave  roof. 

The  plans  for  the  first  of  these  important  under- 
takings were  carried  out  by  a  special  subscription,  as 
a  fit  memorial  to  the  fame  and  earnest  zeal  of  Dean 
Peacock,  from  the  designs  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  who 
in  carrying  out  the  work,  which  occupied  a  number  of 
years,  was  most  assiduous  in  ascertaining  as  nearly 
as  possible  the  ancient  design,  much  of  which  had 
been  lost  and  deformed  during  the  regime  of  James 
Essex.    While  the  work  was  in  progress,  Scott  had 


io8       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

the  satisfaction  of  proving  the  greater  part  of  the 
timber  work  to  be  original,  having  from  the  bottom 
to  the  top  the  carpenter's  marks  of  Walsingham's 
workmen,  and  by  which,  having  prepared  their  work 
in  the  field,  they  were  enabled  to  put  it  together  in 
its  place.  It  was  1879  before  the  work  on  the 
exterior  of  the  octagon  and  its  lead-covered  sur- 
mounting lantern  was  completed  by  the  addition  of 
pinnacles  to  the  eight  great  turrets  which  for  five 
centuries  had  been  so  loudly  exclaiming  for  them, 
and  by  the  flying  buttresses  connecting  it  with  the 
slender  pinnacles  at  its  junction  with  the  four  arms 
of  the  cross. 

The  internal  repair  and  embellishment  of  this  glory 
of  the  cathedral  was  undertaken  in  1874  by  the  late 
Mr  Gambler  Parry,  the  work  being  completed  in 
1875,  and  commemorated  by  an  imposing  service 
on  the  8th  of  June,  when  an  eloquent  sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  and  a  selection 
from  the  Messiah  sung  by  the  cathedral  choir  largely 
augmented  for  the  occasion.  The  general  effect  of 
the  restored  colouring  is  rich  and  beautiful,  but  the 
artist  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  caught  the  spirit  of 
English  fourteenth-century  polychromy,  the  figures 
of  angels  playing  upon  various  musical  instruments 
in  the  panels  of  the  lantern  being  much  too  Italian 
in  feeling. 

Meanwhile,  the  painting  of  the  nave  ceiling  with 
the  Radix  Jesse,  in  rivalry  of,  but  upon  a  more 
gigantic  scale  than  that  at  Hildesheim,  had  been 
brought  to  a  successful  issue  under  the  same 
hand. 

The  origin  of  this  undertaking  was  a  visit  paid  by 


ELY  109 

Styleman  Le  Strange  of  Hunstanton  Court  in  1848 
to  one  of  the  canons  of  the  cathedral,  when  the  dis- 
covery of  much  old  painting  led  to  the  idea  of  making 
colour  one  of  the  features  of  the  restorations  then  in 
progress.  The  artist  broke  ground  in  1855  ^^  ^^e 
great  western  tower,  where  the  opening  of  the  upper 
arcades  in  it  and  the  new  ceiling  above  them  gave 
the  first  occasion  for  his  work.  Le  Strange's  figure 
of  Our  Lord  here,  seated  within  an  aureole  and 
represented  in  the  act  of  exercising  creative  power, 
is  most  grand  and  impressive,  and  placed  as  it  is  at 
the  entrance  to  the  church,  very  appropriate.  It  was 
finished  in  twelve  weeks.  Three  years  later  the  nave 
roof  was  taken  in  hand. 

Here,  in  spite  of  all  the  difficulties  of  their  com- 
plexity and  size,  the  decorative  parts  of  Le  Strange's 
design  are  perfect.  The  figures  are  Norman — to 
many  it  may  seem  too  archaic,  but  he  was  paint- 
ing for  Norman  architecture,  and,  whether  rightly 
or  wrongly,  he  fettered  himself  by  entirely  Norman 
precedents.  Before  starting  on  the  nave  ceiling  Le 
Strange,  at  Sir  Gilbert  Scott's  suggestion,  visited 
Hildesheim,  where  in  the  Church  of  St  Michael 
a  then  untouched  roof  of  a  corresponding  date 
remained,  and  on  that  he  based  his  design,  though 
making  it  in  all  its  details  original.  For  a  pro- 
fessional man  to  have  been  engaged  to  such  a 
sacrifice  of  time,  and  such  infinitude  of  trouble 
would  have  involved  expenses  which  at  once  put 
that  out  of  the  question.  To  obtain  the  services  of 
an  amateur,  Le  Strange  was  the  only  one  competent 
to  such  a  task.  His  art  education  was  ripe  for  it. 
His  portfolios  show  how  the  scheme  for  that  painting 


no       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

developed.  There  is  a  sketch  in  existence  of  the 
whole  length  of  the  nave  roof,  which,  though  not 
dated,  is  evidently  the  first.  The  scheme  is  simple, 
but  complete.  It  begins  by  the  creation  of  man  by 
Our  Lord  as  "  The  Word,"  and  after  two  subjects — 
the  Fall,  and  the  figure  of  Jesse — the  rest  of  the  roof 
is  occupied  by  the  genealogy  of  Our  Lord,  with  small 
busts  of  the  royal  line  from  David  supported  by 
attesting  prophets,  and  the  heads  of  the  genealogical 
list  of  persons  mentioned  in  St  Luke's  Gospel,  finish- 
ing at  the  east  end  of  the  nave  by  the  Session  in 
Majesty.  Unhappily,  Le  Strange  was  not  spared  to 
finish  his  noble  work,  but  died,  when  about  two-thirds 
of  it  had  been  completed,  27th  July  1862.  He  had 
laid  aside  his  work  at  Ely  in  order  to  complete  the 
cartoons  for  another  great  undertaking,  the  paintings 
on  the  eastern  wall  of  the  chancel  in  Butterfield's 
noble  church  of  St  Alban,  Holborn,  then  advancing 
towards  completion.  Le  Strange's  friend  and  brother- 
amateur,  Mr  T.  Gambier  Parry,  then  took  up  the  work, 
which  had  not  progressed  further  in  the  sacred  story 
than  the  marriage  of  Boaz  and  Ruth,  and  carried  it 
on  to  its  completion  at  Christmas  1864. 

Thus,  to  non-professional  talent  we  owe  one  of 
the  most  striking  and  gigantic  pieces  of  roof  decora- 
tion that  has  been  attempted  in  modern  times, 
and  which  tends  through  the  reticence  which 
characterises  its  colouring  to  increase  rather  than  to 
diminish  the  apparent  height  of  the  nave.  Le 
Strange's  work  begins  with  this  inscription: — "Sit 
splendor  Domini  Dei  nostri  super  nos ;  et  opera 
manuum  nostrarum  dirige  super  nos,  et  opus 
manuum   nostrarum  dirige."      Mr   Gambier   Parry's 


ELY  III 

terminates  with  : — "Non  nobis,  Domine,  non  nobis, 
sed  nomine  tuo  da  Gloriam." 

Upon  the  elevation  of  Dr  Harvey  Goodwin  to  the 
episcopate  in  1869,  the  works  of  restoration  and 
embellishment  were  continued  under  Dr  Merivale,  so 
widely  remembered  by  his  "  History  of  the  Romans 
under  the  Empire."  These  included  the  restoration 
of  the  south  transept,  western  portal  and  door ;  the 
reparation  of  the  western  tower,  which  had  again 
shown  the  effects  of  undue  pressure  ;  the  repairs 
of  the  buttresses  and  foundations  of  a  part  of 
Northwold's  work  which  showed  signs  of  weakness 
after  an  unusually  dry  summer  ;  the  repairing  of  the 
nave  from  the  west  end  to  the  octagon  ;  and  the 
completion  of  the  stalls  by  those  groups  to  which  I 
have  already  alluded,  and  the  octagon. 

Nor  has  the  solicitude  of  the  present  cultured 
occupant  of  the  decanal  chair — Dr  C.  W.  Stubbs — 
been  less  marked,  many  important,  if  not  vast, 
improvements  having  been  carried  out  under  his 
regime  with  equal  judgment  and  taste.  Among 
them  must  be  named  such  ritual  ameliorations  as  the 
placing  of  the  Edwardian  ornaments  on  the  retable  of 
the  High  Altar,  and  the  formation,  in  the  eastern 
aisle  of  the  north  transept,  of  a  chapel  for  low 
celebrations  when  a  few  only  are  gathered  together, 
and  whose  dedication  to  St  Edmund  was  suggested 
by  the  presence  of  some  fresco  painting  which 
appears  to  represent  the  martyrdom  of  that  popular 
East  Anglian  saint.  A  graceful  reredos,  from  the 
designs  of  Mr  J.  A.  Reeve,  and  the  chisel  of  Messrs 
Farmer  and  Brindley,  as  well  as  some  excellent 
5tained  glass  by  Clayton  and  Bell,  has  been  placed 


112       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

here.  The  reredos,  sculptured  from  an  alabaster 
block  of  great  purity,  represents  the  Priesthood  of  the 
Eternal  Christ,  a  subject  that  was  not  infrequently 
treated,  or  suggested,  in  Early  Byzantine  art,  but 
which  seems  to  have  been  almost  passed  over  by  the 
sacred  art  of  Western  Christendom. 

I  cannot  conclude  this  chapter  on  Ely  Cathedral 
without  expressing  my  obligations  to  the  Lord 
Bishop  and  Lady  Alwyne  Compton  for  the  great 
kindness  and  hospitality  which  they  extended  to 
me  during  the  three  days  I  was  privileged  to  spend 
with  them  last  winter  at  the  Palace — days  which  I 
shall  ever  look  back  upon  as  among  the  happiest 
ever  passed  in  the  course  of  my  ecclesiological 
experiences.  It  is  almost  needless  to  say,  that  under 
such  circumstances,  access  to  every  available  part, 
both  within  and  without  this  incomparable  structure, 
was  freely  accorded  to  me,  including  the  Music 
Library  with  its  collection  of  ancient  choral  services 
and  anthems  preserved  among  the  manuscript  scores 
and  part  books  through  the  care  and  industry  of 
James  Hawkins,  organist  of  the  cathedral  from  1682 
to  1729,  and  catalogued  with  equal  care  forty-five 
years  ago  by  Precentor  Dickson.  To  all  who  regard 
church  music  as  an  auxiliary  to  church  architecture, 
such  a  quantity  of  musical  matter  is  by  no  means 
one  of  the  least  interesting  among  the  varied  contents 
of  this  vast  fenland  minster. 


i^ 


Z  I 


J 


E 
o 


CHAPTER   IV 

LINCOLN 

To  compare  our  cathedrals  as  examples  of  archi- 
tecture is  a  difficult,  not  to  say  invidious,  task.  Each 
has  its  own  peculiar  beauties,  as  each,  one  need  not  be 
afraid  to  say,  its  own  defects.  Of  these  Lincoln  has 
its  share,  though  the  latter,  which  are  proportional 
ones,  present  themselves  only  to  the  practised  eye  ; 
for,  taken  as  a  whole,  it  must  be  admitted  that  in 
magnificence,  in  all  artistic  qualities,  to  say  nothing 
of  dignity  of  situation,  few  cannot  excel,  none  surpass, 
this  queenly  building  which,  within  the  comparatively 
short  space  of  a  single  century,  grew,  in  all  essentials, 
to  that  form  with  which  we  are  so  familiar. 

With  some  unimportant  exceptions,  Lincoln 
Cathedral  belongs  to  that  period  of  church  building 
which  extends  from  the  last  decade  of  the  twelfth  to 
the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century.  It  is 
essentially  an  Early  English  structure,  and  therefore 
at  first  sight  it  might  be  supposed  that  little  could 
be  said  about  it ;  but  when  we  come  to  examine  the 

H  ''* 


114       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

various  parts  minutely  we  shall  find  that  there  exists, 
in  that  Early  English,  more  than  one  phase  of  the 
style. 

We  know  that  Paulinus,  in  the  old  Saxon  times, 
who  converted  the  barbarous  inhabitants  of  the 
district,  built  a  church  at  Lincoln  which  was 
described  by  the  Venerable  Bede  to  have  been 
erected  of  stone ;  but  of  this  nothing  is  now 
remaining,  and  it  may  have  been  on  a  wholly 
different  site.  There  was  no  cathedral  church  of 
Lincoln  until  the  time  of  Remigius,  the  first  Norman 
bishop,  who  removed  the  See  from  Dorchester 
in  Oxfordshire  in  1085,  and  who,  like  most  of 
the  Norman  bishops,  had  a  passion  for  building. 
Remigius  was  opposed  in  the  change  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  yet  he  pursued  the  building  of  the 
church,  and  had  so  far  completed  it  in  1092  that 
the  day  was  fixed  for  its  consecration,  when,  by 
God's  providence,  it  became  that  of  the  interment  of 
its  founder.  In  11 25  a  fire  occurred,  and  the  roof  fell 
upon  the  tomb  of  Remigius.  The  edifice  was  then 
repaired  by  Bishop  Alexander,  to  whom  we  may 
attribute  the  work  of  the  western  doorway,  whilst 
other  portions  of  the  front,  including  the  rude  bas- 
reliefs  (which  may  be  compared  with  similar  bands 
of  sculpture  at  the  cathedral  of  Verona),  are  probably 
part  of  the  original  work  of  Remigius. 

On  his  appointment  to  the  See  of  Lincoln  in  11 86 
Hugh  de  Grenoble  found  his  church  greatly  injured 
by  an  earthquake  that  had  occurred  the  previous 
year.^ 

^  "  Terrse  motus  magnus ;  Ecclesia  Lincolniensis  metro 
poljtana  scissa  est  in  summo  deorsum." — Roger  de  Hoveden. 


LINCOLN  115 

The  new  prelate,  one  of  the  very  greatest  and 
noblest  of  Anglo- Catholic  bishops  of  any  age,  at  once 
determined  to  rebuild  the  shattered  fabric,  and  the 
architect  he  called  in  was  Geoffrey  de  Noyers,  who, 
although  French  in  name,  has  been  proved  by 
indefatigable  research  to  have  been  an  Englishman. 
His  family  came  over  to  England  with  the  Conqueror 
and  settled  in  Lincolnshire,  where  it  is  still  one  of 
the  county  families,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that 
Geoffrey  de  Noyers  (now  called  Dunoyer)  was  a 
Lincolnshire  man,  and  that  that  district  was  then 
in  advance  of  any  other  in  architectural  matters, 
either  at  home  or  abroad. 

That  St  Hugh's  choir  at  Lincoln  is  the  earliest 
pure  Gothic  building  in  the  world  may  be  said  to  be 
now  a  matter  of  demonstration  on  the  showing  of 
the  highest  authorities  both  in  France  and  England. 
At  first  sight,  the  columns  supporting  the  four  arches 
in  the  choir  proper  are  strikingly  like  those  in  the 
contemporary  cathedrals  of  Chartres  and  Tours,  as 
regards  their  composition,  viz.,  four  slender  shafts 
grouped  around  an  octagon  or  a  cylinder,  but  a 
closer  acquaintance  will  reveal  differences  of  detail 
in  the  sections  of  these  piers  at  Lincoln,  while  their 
foliaged  ornament  exhibits  a  far  greater  delicacy  of 
execution  than  their  French  sisters. 

Of  course  it  is  possible  that  de  Noyers  may  have 
paid  a  visit  to  Chartres  and  Tours  or  some  other  of 
the  great  churches  that  this  period  of  ceaseless  joyous 
activity  was  raising  all  over  Europe,  for  although 
there  are  local  characteristics  in  each  country,  the 
general  style  of  the  thirteenth  century  is  the  same  all 
over  the  north  and  west  of  Europe.     Pedigree-hunting 


ii6       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

in  architecture  is  the  merest  futility.  The  architects 
of  the  great  churches  of  England,  France  and 
Germany  worked  out  their  artistic  salvation  almost 
wholly  in  independence  of  each  other,  so  that  the 
different  schools  are  sister  schools  with  parallel 
development,  and  if  Geoffrey  de  Noyers  took  a  few 
hints  for  Lincoln  choir  piers  from  Chartres  and  Tours, 
the  French  took  several  at  later  periods  from  the 
choir  and  octagon  at  Ely. 

As  regards  St  Hugh,  his  course  has  been  traced 
from  his  birth  to  his  death,  and  all  the  buildings  with 
which  he  was  connected  have  been  examined,  and  it 
is  now  clear  that  he  was  not  an  architect,  and  did  not 
bring  either  architects  or  masons  with  him  from 
Grenoble,  which  was,  on  the  contrary,  very  much 
behind  England  at  that  period,  artistically.  The  old 
Norman  choir  at  Lincoln  was  but  short.  We  know 
its  exact  dimensions,  for  the  foundations  of  the  apse 
exist  underneath  the  pavement,  the  circle  being 
struck  from  a  centre  covered  by  the  ancient  stone  in- 
scribed "  Cantate  hie,"  on  which,  no  doubt,  the  great 
choir  lectern  supporting  the  graduale  and  antiphonary 
used  to  stand,  and  on  which  the  Litany  desk  is  now 
placed.  It  was  also  slightly  narrower  than  the 
present  one.  The  northern  arcades  of  the  two 
churches  coincide,  but  the  southern  arcade  was  set 
back  a  few  inches  on  the  Early  English  rebuilding. 

Hugh's  plan  embraced  an  aisled  choir  of  four 
bays,  an  eastern  transept  with  two  apsidal  chapels 
in  each  arm  as  at  Canterbury,  and  a  large  semi- 
hexagonal  apse,  the  foundations  of  which,  like  those 
of  the  old  Norman  one,  are  known  to  exist  beneath 
the   pavement    just    beyond    the    eastern    transept. 


LINCOLN  117 

This  work,  deriving  a  double  interest  from  its  being 
the  earliest  known  one  in  which  the  Pointed  style 
was  adopted  without  any  admixture  of  the  Norman 
influence,  either  in  form,  details,  or  mouldings,  was 
in  progress  between  1192  and  1200,  and  comprises  a 
part  of  the  eastern  wall  of  both  the  great  transepts, 
and  the  choir  as  far  as  the  junction  of  the  eastern 
transept  with  the  "  Angel  Choir."  The  south  aisle 
was  built  first,  and  in  the  eastern  bay  of  it  is  the  only 
vestige  of  Norman  work  left  in  this  part  of  the 
cathedral — the  billet  ornament  which  occurs  in  the 
rib-moulding  of  the  vault  of  that  bay. 

The  irregular  groining  of  the  choir  roof  at  its  west 
end,  the  distorted  appearance  of  the  tympana  of  some 
of  the  triforium  arcades  on  the  south  side,  and  their 
clumsy  clusters  of  cylinders  without  capitals,  must  be 
attributed  to  a  parsimonious  reconstruction  after  the 
fall  of  the  first  Early  English  tower  in  1240 — "  propter 
artificii  insolentiam  "  as  Bened.  Abbas,  who  puts  the 
date  of  the  accident  at  1237,  informs  us.  But  else- 
where in  St  Hugh's  choir  the  workmanship  is  of  the 
most  exquisitely  exuberant  character,  and  this  is  ob- 
servable chiefly  in  the  aisles,  whose  walls  are  adorned 
with  double  arcades,  one  built  before  the  other,  yet 
the  hinder  one  perfectly  finished.  Perhaps  the  most 
characteristic  feature  of  de  Noyer's  work  is,  that  he 
seized  every  opportunity  to  make  detached  shafts  in 
situations  where  engaged  ones  are  usual  in  Early 
English.  Another  peculiarity  which  I  would  point 
out  in  this  choir  of  St  Hugh  is  the  transverse  gallery, 
carried  across  the  north  end  of  the  north-east  transept 
at  the  triforium  level — a  ritual  arrangement  connected, 
perhaps,  with   the  preservation  of  relics  of  peculiar 


ii8       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

sanctity,  and  which  appears  to  have  been  imitated 
from  Norman  examples  of  it  in  the  transepts  of 
Winchester  and  Ely,  though  at  Lincoln  the  trans- 
verse wall  is  carried  up  to  the  roof,  repeating  the 
triforium  and  clerestory,  with  most  graceful  effect.^ 

Bishop  Hugh  consecrated  his  new  church  in  1 192, 
and  between  that  time  and  the  middle  of  the  next 
century  the  work  of  rebuilding  the  Norman  church 
progressed  steadily  under  a  succession  of  bishops 
and  ecclesiastics,  until  it  reached  the  west  front, 
whose  three  gigantic  but  rudely  outlined  cavernous 
recesses,  adumbrating  the  glories  of  Peterborough's 
unique  portal,  peer  forth  from  that  veil  of  Early 
English  arcading,  which  gives  a  character  quite  its 
own,  if  not  altogether  pleasing,  to  the  whole. 

Three  periods  of  Gothic  find  their  expression  in 
this  western  facade  of  Lincoln.  Norman  in  its  core, 
lower  stages  of  its  towers  and  doorways ;  Early 
English  in  its  screen  work  extending  beyond  the 
towers ;  and  Perpendicular  in  the  windows  inserted 
above  the  triple  Norman  doorways,  and  in  the  upper 
stages  of  the  towers. 

The  study  of  this  cathedral  on  its  progress  from 
Hugh's  beginning,  through  the  great  transepts  to  the 
west  end  of  the  nave,  affords  a  most  interesting 
development  of  the  Early  English  style.  The  nave 
is  coincident  in  length  with  the  old  Norman  one, 
and  if  defective  in  some  particulars  which  only  force 
themselves  upon  the  critical  eye,  is  perhaps  on  the 
whole  the  grandest   example    of   thirteenth-century 

^  I  was  much  struck  with  a  similar  example  of  this  tribune 
some  years  ago,  when  visiting  the  beautiful  Burgundian  First- 
Pointed  church  of  Clamecy  between  Nevers  and  Auxerre.. 


LINCOLN  119 

work  in  the  country,  being  massive  without  heaviness, 
rich  but  not  exuberantly  so  in  detail,  and  exhibited 
in  its  highest  state  of  development.  Had  a  few  feet 
of  additional  height  been  given  to  it,  and  had  the 
five  bays  counting  from  the  east  been  less  widely 
spaced,  by  which  means  an  additional  bay  would 
have  been  secured,  the  nave  of  Lincoln  as  work  of 
its  age  and  class  might  have  stood  unrivalled.  Grand 
and  majestic,  it  is  surpassed  in  poetry  of  design  by 
the  more  modestly  proportioned  naves  of  Salisbury 
and  Wells,  where  the  narrow  spacing  of  the  arcades 
is  productive  of  a  far  more  mysterious  effect  Lincoln 
nave  appears  never  to  have  undergone  restoration 
internally,  and  it  has  always  struck  me  that  an  effect 
of  greater  height  might  be  imparted  by  the  judicious 
application  of  colour  to  the  vaulting  cells.  As  an 
example  of  this  I  would  point  to  the  choir  of  St 
Paul's  Cathedral  since  the  introduction  of  Sir 
William  Richmond's  mosaics. 

Very  graceful  are  the  chapels  formed  behind  the 
wings  of  the  western  facade,  and  extending  to  the 
length  of  the  first  two  bays  of  the  nave.  Internally 
their  lancet  windows  and  lythe  columns  are  admir- 
able, while  externally  their  gabled  roofs  combine 
very  pleasingly  with  the  pinnacled  towers,  which 
certainly  present  a  more  graceful  appearance  from 
this  point,  than  when  viewed  in  conjunction  with  the 
western  facade. 

Throughout  the  Early  English  part  of  the  cathedral, 
the  only  form  of  window  employed  is  the  lancet, 
save  in  the  face  of  either  great  transept,  where  we 
have  a  vast  circle,  each  illustrating  a  type  of  tracery 
perfect  of  its  kind ;  but  when  we  pass  beyond  the 


I20       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

eastern  transept  we  find  a  total  change  in  that 
feature,  by  which  we  frequently  judge  of  the  data  of  a 
building,  its  fenestration. 

Hugh  died  in  1200,  and  twenty  years  later  was 
canonised  by  Pope  Honorius  HI.  According  to  the 
belief  of  the  age,  the  tomb  of  the  sainted  prelate 
became  the  scene  of  miraculous  cures.  Devotees 
thronged  the  cathedral  earnestly  seeking  to  obtain 
relief  from  their  maladies,  or  to  secure  the  influence 
of  the  saint  towards  the  accomplishment  of  their 
objects ;  while  with  the  offerings  poured  into  the 
coffers  the  clergy  were  able  no  doubt,  not  only  to 
rebuild  the  old  Norman  portions  of  the  church  on 
their  present  grandiose  scale,  but  to  erect  a  larger 
and  more  appropriate  resting-place  for  the  hallowed 
remains.  This  we  see  in  the  extension  beyond  the 
eastern  transept,  familiarly  known  as  the  Angel  Choir, 
from  the  sculpture  in  the  spandrels  of  its  five  nobly 
moulded  arches. 

The  great  beauty  of  English  complete  Gothic  is 
that  natural  and  gradual  development  from  the 
preceding  style,  perhaps  nowhere  so  strikingly 
illustrated  as  in  this  Angel  Choir  of  Lincoln,  a 
typical  specimen  of  that  period  of  architecture  which 
belongs  partly  to  the  Early  English,  and  partly  to  the 
Decorated  styles,  but  which  is  in  reality  distinct  from 
both,  and  pre-eminently  entitled,  from  the  number 
and  beauty  of  its  examples,  to  separate  classification. 

The  scheme  of  providing  so  glorious  a  resting- 
place  for  the  sainted  Hugh  was  taken  in  hand  about 
1255,  and  in  1280  the  translation  of  the  remains  took 
place  with  solemn  ceremonial,  in  the  presence  of 
Edward  I.,  his  queen,  and  children.     It  was  dedicated 


LINCOLN  121 

conjointly  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St  Hugh,  the 
Lady  Altar  being  set  up  against  the  east  wall  of  the 
new  building,  and  the  shrine  and  altar  of  the  prelate 
occupying  the  more  prominent  place  in  the  centre 
behind  the  reredos  of  the  choir,  over  which  the 
feretory,  containing  the  hallowed  body,  towered  so 
conspicuously  as  to  attract  not  only  the  gaze  of  the 
whole  congregation,  but  of  the  officiating  priest  as  he 
stood  before  the  High  Altar. 

The  clerestory  windows  in  this  part  of  the 
cathedral  are  of  four  compartments.  The  lights 
are  uncusped,  but  the  large  circle  in  the  head  has 
eight  foliations,  and  there  is  a  small  trefoiled  circle 
within  the  arch  gathering  up  the  lights  into  pairs. 
In  the  aisle  the  three-light  windows  are  cusped 
throughout,  and,  traceried  as  they  are  with  three 
foliated  circles,  may  be  regarded  as  perfect  models 
of  the  work  of  this  epoch.  Indeed,  so  exquisite  is 
the  detail  of  this  most  perfect  example  of  the  most 
perfect  period  of  English  architecture,  that  we  are 
tempted  to  overlook  its  defect,  a  lowness  of  pro- 
portion which  doubtless  arose  from  the  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  architect  to  restrict  his  dimensions 
to  those  of  the  Early  English  choir  which  he  was 
called  upon  to  extend.  To  some  extent  this  defect 
might  have  been  remedied  when,  half  a  century  ago, 
the  great  east  window — a  noble  composition  of 
eight  uncusped  lights — was  filled  with  stained  glass. 
Competent  advice,  which  pointed  to  the  plentiful 
introduction  of  grisaille,  and  single  effigies  under 
spiral  canopies,  was  disregarded,  and  the  lights 
filled  with  a  multiplicity  of  small  groups  within 
medallions,  presenting  an  effect  the  opposite  of  the 


122       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

desired  one — that  of  verticality.  No  very  grave 
chronological  solecism  would  have  been  committed 
by  the  introduction  of  fourteenth-century  stained  glass 
into  a  window  in  the  style  of  the  previous  one. 

Lincoln  Cathedral  is  rich  in  sculpture,  both  in 
leafage  and  the  human  form  divine.  In  the  frieze 
of  the  west  end  is  some  fine  early  twelfth-century 
work  ;  the  kings  above  the  west  door  represent  the 
art  in  its  decline  about  the  time  of  Edward  IIL; 
while  the  flourishing  period  is  exemplified  in  the 
Doom  within  the  tympanum  of  the  lovely  south- 
eastern doorway,  and  in  the  Easter  Sepulchre. 

But  in  the  Angel  Choir  there  is  some  most  interest- 
ing sculpture  which  has  come  down  to  our  time  in 
a  marvellously  perfect  state.  It  consists  of  thirty 
subjects,  fifteen  to  the  north,  and  fifteen  to  the 
south,  and  their  designs  in  the  form  of  angels  were 
explained  by  Professor  Cockerell  to  be  derived 
from  that  Epistle  of  St  Peter  in  which  is  set  forth 
the  dealings  of  the  Almighty  with  the  human  race. 
From  these  magnificent  specimens  of  sculpture  we 
are  led  to  conclude  that  this  branch  of  ecclesiastical 
art  in  England  was  superior  to  that  of  Italy  in  the 
thirteenth  century;  for  the  year  1282  which  saw 
the  completion  of  the  Angel  Choir  was  before  the 
age  of  Giotto,  Cimabue,  and  Pisani. 

I  have  in  my  possession  photographs  of  the  finest 
sculptures  in  Italy  executed  from  forty  to  fifty  years 
after  those  in  the  Angel  Choir  at  Lincoln,  and  I  am 
ready  to  affirm  that  the  English  school  is  superior  to 
the  Italian. 

The  sculpture  in  all  our  cathedrals  proves  that  the 
work  was  executed  by  different  hands ;  their  styles 


LINCOLN  123 

are  dissimilar,  and  it  is  clear  that  the  work  was 
executed  by  local  men.  In  the  work  at  Lincoln 
two  hands  can  be  recognised ;  a  chasteness  and 
purity  of  style  characterising  the  one ;  a  greater 
share  of  mediaeval  quaintness  the  other.  That  the 
figures  were  executed  in  workshops  and  then  affixed 
there  can  be  no  question,  for,  in  one  of  the  angels  the 
parts  having  been  cut  by  different  workmen  do  not 
appear  to  have  fitted  very  well  when  put  up  and 
joined  together.  But  certain  small  defects  apart, 
the  sculptured  iconography  in  this  part  of  Lincoln 
Cathedral  is  a  work  of  which  we  as  Englishmen 
should  be  justly  proud,  no  less  admirable  being  the 
theological  knowledge  which  made  such  a  chain  of 
events  possible. 

The  Angel  Choir  was  hastening  to  completion 
when  the  Chapter  turned  its  attention  to  what  in  a 
cathedral  of  the  Old  Foundation  must  be  considered 
rather  in  the  light  of  an  objet  de  luxe — the  cloister. 
At  Lincoln  this  delightful  addition  to  the  entourages 
occupies  a  singular  position,  viz.,  the  north  side  of 
the  choir  between  the  two  transepts,  being  entered 
from  the  eastern  one  by  a  slype.  Belonging  as  these 
cloisters  at  Lincoln  do  to  the  last  two  decades  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  the  windows  in  the  eastern,  western, 
and  southern  ambulatories,  remarkable  by  the  way 
as  being  groined  in  wood,  are  much  more  developed 
as  regards  their  tracery  than  those  of  the  Angel 
Choir.  The  northern  walk,  said  to  have  been  pulled 
down  by  Dean  Mackworth  in  the  fifteenth  century 
to  build  his  stables,  lay  in  ruins  until  the  Restoration, 
when  it  was  rebuilt  in  Tuscan  Renaissance  by  Sir 
Christopher  Wren,  who  placed  above  it  that  library 


124       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

whose  square-headed  windows  divided  by  a  mullion 
and  a  transom  constitute  a  pleasing  feature.  Some 
years  ago  it  was  proposed  to  demolish  this  piece 
of  Wren's  work,  and  to  reproduce  the  destroyed 
walk  in  the  same  style  as  the  others,  but  this 
scheme,  after  much  acrimonious  correspondence  both 
on  the  Gothic  and  Classic  side,  was  abandoned. 
Perhaps  fortunately,  for  if  incongruous,  this  northern 
cloister  at  Lincoln  is,  as  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  when 
confronted  with  such  a  piece  of  work  in  restor- 
ing a  Pointed  church  used  to  say,  "historical,  good 
of  its  kind,  has  a  certain  character  about  it  which 
I  don't  altogether  dislike,  and  which  in  short  had 
better  be  left  alone." 

From  the  eastern  ambulatory,  a  lofty  groined 
vestibule  lighted  on  either  side  by  four  lancet 
windows,  and  above  the  entrance  by  a  circular  one 
devoid  of  tracery,  but  grand  from  its  utter  simplicity, 
the  Chapter-house  is  entered. 

In  shape  a  decagon,  this  house  at  Lincoln,  with 
its  high  bold  roof  and  its  long  projecting  flying 
buttresses  was  pronounced  by  Pugin  "  truly  grand." 
Chronologically,  it  takes  up  ground  between  the  nave 
and  the  Angel  Choir,  so  that  it  would  be  safe  to  fix 
as  its  date  1240-60. 

Even  here  the  lancet  prevails,  each  side  of  the 
decagon  being  lighted  by  a  pair,  and  running  round 
the  walls  below  the  windows,  unbroken  by  the  vault- 
ing shafts,  which  are  corbelled  off  at  the  string  course, 
is  a  series  of  uncusped  pointed  arcades. 

In  the  centre  rises  a  tall  column  composed  of 
twelve  slender  filletted  shafts  grouped  around  a  core, 
and  resembling   the   trunk  of  a  vast   palm-tree,  of 


LINCOLN  125 

which  the  head  bends  down  like  an  immense  sun- 
shade, sheltering  under  its  symmetrical  branches  the 
whole  area  of  the  floor ;  the  branches  being  united 
with  parts  of  other  palms  which  spring  from  the 
angles  of  the  decagon.  The  Chapter-houses  of 
Salisbury  and  Westminster  may  be  lighter  and  more 
gracious  in  the  disposal  of  their  vaults,  but  it  is 
impossible  not  to  admire  the  consummate  skill 
evinced  in  this  their  majestic  parent  at  Lincoln. 
Contemporary  French  or  German  architecture  has 
produced  nothing  from  which  a  notion  can  be  formed 
of  so  delightful  an  example  of  groining.  The 
thirteenth-century  English  architects  may  not  have 
shown  the  same  engineering  skill  as  those  of  the 
Domaine  Royal  and  Champagne  in  the  arrangement 
of  their  east  ends,  but  in  the  art  of  disposing  and 
ornamenting  their  vaults,  particularly  those  of  poly- 
gonal Chapter-houses,  they  unquestionably  carried 
off  the  palm.  They  seem  to  have  had  a  peculiar 
aptitude  for  that  work  which  enabled  them  to 
exercise  their  imagination  and  their  practical  studies, 
and  hence  they  produced  a  variety  of  effects 
of  extraordinary  richness.  But  among  all  their 
inventions  there  are  few  more  original  than  the 
palm-tree-like  vaults  in  those  Chapter-houses  of 
Lincoln,  Salisbury,  Westminster,  and  Wells,  which 
form  so  remarkable  and  continuous  a  sequence  of 
buildings. 

A  sumptuous  resting-place  having  been  provided 
for  their  titular  saint,  the  Chapter  of  Lincoln  turned 
their  thoughts  to  another  great  work,  and  one  which 
may  rightly  be  deemed  the  crowning  glory  of  the 
cathedral — the    completion    of    the    central    tower. 


126       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Preparation  had  been  made  for  it  by  Bishop  Grostete, 
to  whom  we  owe  those  first  two  stages,  open  to  the 
church  to  a  height  of  127  feet,  and  forming  a  lantern 
in  which  it  is  difficult  to  know  what  to  admire  most 
— the  magnificence  and  sumptuousness  of  its  Early 
English  detail  or  the  grandioseness  of  its  general 
effect. 

Early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  another  stage — 
now  forming  the  ringing  chamber,  but  until  its  vault- 
ing about  1375  under  Treasurer  Welbourne,  open  to 
the  church — was  added,  and  upon  this  was  reared  the 
topmost  storey,  apparently  so  sturdy,  yet  so  per- 
forated for  lightness  with  galleries  and  passages,  as 
almost  to  have  two  walls — an  outer  and  an  inner 
shell.  Consequently  those  expedients  which  were 
perforce  adopted  at  Wells,  and  later  at  Canterbury 
and  Salisbury,  to  preserve  the  stability  of  the 
substructure,  have  never  been  found  necessary  at 
Lincoln.  With  its  two  great  Decorated  windows  on 
each  face  surmounted  by  gables  which  rise  up  into 
the  parapet,  and  those  leaden  pinnacles  which  give 
it  a  character  peculiarly  its  own,  this  "  Rood "  or 
"  Broad  "  Tower,  as  it  is  locally  styled,  is  unequalled 
in  majesty  by  any  Continental  one  in  the  same 
position — Coutances,  Rouen,  and  Fecamp  approach- 
ing it  most  nearly  in  sublimity  of  effect.  The  metal 
cresting  added  by  Essex  in  1775  has  been  styled  "an 
admirable  finish  to  a  magnificent  design,"  and,  in 
justice  to  that  architect,  it  must  be  acknowledged  as 
an  acquisition. 

The  western  towers  completing  a  noble  trinity 
were  raised  upon  the  old  Norman  ones  between  1400 
and   1450,  their  only  fault,  attributable  to  the  Early 


LINCOLN  127 

English  screen  work  of  the  front,  being  that  they 
cannot  be  seen  to  rise  directly  from  the  ground. 
Those  who  have  examined  this  beautiful  group  of 
towers  carefully  must  have  remarked  that  the  two 
western  ones  are  neither  square  nor  quite  alike  in 
detail,  nor  in  perfect  perpendicular.  The  thick  part 
of  the  buttresses  in  the  south  runs  higher  than  in 
the  north  tower.  The  Norman  arcading  is  not  the 
same,  nor  are  the  buttresses  which  contain  the  stair- 
cases to  the  north-west  and  the  south-east.  The 
northern  tower  leans  perceptibly  to  the  north-east, 
and  the  southern  one  more  slightly  in  the  opposite 
direction.  Early  in  the  last  century,  Lincoln 
Cathedral  possessed  what  no  other  cathedral  had  in 
England — two  peals  of  bells  and  Great  Tom  :  a  peal 
of  eight  in  St  Hugh's  (the  south-west)  tower,  called 
St  Hugh's  bells,  which  still  exist ;  a  peal  of  six  in 
the  great  central  tower,  called  the  Lady  Bells ;  and 
"  Great  Tom  of  Lincoln,"  in  the  north-west  tower,  on 
which  the  clock  struck.  This  bell,  which  was  cracked 
in  1827,  in  consequence,  it  is  supposed,  of  some 
mismanagement  in  shifting  the  clock-hammer,  was 
originally  cast  in  1610  by  a  famous  bell-founder, 
named  Oldfield,  and  in  a  temporary  furnace  within 
the  cathedral  precincts.  It  was  beautifully  finished 
with  lace  work,  and  both  in  shape  and  tone  was 
remarkably  fine. 

From  1827  to  1834  Great  Tom  remained  dumb  in 
the  tower,  when  Subdean  Sutton  persuaded  the 
Chapter  to  take  down  the  Lady  Bells  and  throw 
their  metal  into  the  new  Great  Tom  and  two  quarter- 
bells  which  now  hang  in  the  central  tower,  where  the 
Lady  Bells  formerly  were.     These,  as  may  be  seen 


128       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

from  the  section  plate  of  the  cathedral  in  Wild's 
monograph,  were  fixed  in  a  row  on  the  floor  of  the 
belfry,  the  ropes  of  the  four  largest  going  down  to 
the  piers  of  the  great  tower  where  the  rings  to  which 
they  were  fixed  can  still  be  seen.  The  singing  boys 
used  to  ring  these  Lady  Bells  for  service,  two  for 
ferias,  four  on  the  eves  of  saints'  days,  on  Saturday 
evenings,  and  on  Sundays.  On  Lady  Day  the 
choristers  used  to  go  up  into  the  belfry,  tie  strings  to 
the  clappers  of  the  Lady  Bells,  and  chime  them  for 
an  hour  in  cadences  which  have  been  described  as 
exceedingly  beautiful  ;  their  loss  therefore  on  several 
grounds  is  much  to  be  regretted.  Had  the  then 
Dean  and  Chapter  used  common-sense,  they  would 
have  had  a  cast  taken  of  the  old  bell,  and  renewed 
it  of  the  same  shape  and  size,  and  then  Lincoln 
would  still  have  been  in  possession  of  its  two  peals. 

One  who  had  visited  churches  throughout  Europe 
was  wont  to  observe,  that  in  no  church  in  Christendom 
were  the  mediaeval  offices  so  generally  kept  up  as  in 
England.  Nowhere  else  were  so  many  hour  services, 
essentially  mediaeval  and  even  monastic  in  their 
origin,  recited  publicly.  It  may  be  added  that,  upon 
the  whole,  in  spite  of  all  that  fanaticism  and 
vulgarity  have  done  to  spoil  the  work  of  our  fore- 
fathers, nowhere  else  have  the  choral  arrangements  of 
cathedral  and  collegiate  church  choirs,  aye,  and  of 
many  a  town  and  village  church,  been  so  carefully 
preserved  through  generations  of  apathy  and  opposi- 
tion as  among  ourselves.  It  is  a  consoling  fact  that 
the  English  cathedrals  retain  more  of  their  old 
Catholic  arrangement  and  fittings  than  those  of 
France,  while  as    regards    their   fabrics    they   have 


LINCOLN  129 

suffered  less  injury,  and  have  preserved  their  original 
character  in  a  marvellous  degree.  As  a  specimen  of 
an  English  cathedral  choir  retaining  its  mediaeval 
stall  work  it  would  be  difficult  to  point  to  a  more 
beautiful  and  perfect  example  than  that  of  Lincoln, 
and  this  pleasure  is  enhanced  by  the  knowledge  that 
nothing  drastic  in  the  way  of  modern  reparation  has 
been  attempted,  such  improvements  as  necessity  has 
dictated  having  passed  under  the  eye  of  conservative 
renovators,  with  the  result  that  the  general  effect  is 
solemn  and  devotional.  The  stalls,  sixty-two  in 
number,  date  from  between  1360  and  1380,  and  as 
specimens  of  Early  Perpendicular  tabernacle  work 
are  hardly  surpassed.  In  order  to  receive  them  the 
vaulting  shafts  of  the  choir  were  cut  away  and 
replaced  by  Perpendicular  corbels,  a  piece  of  foliage 
being  introduced  into  the  caps  of  the  piers  to 
conceal  the  alteration.  Until  185 1,  when  they  were 
repaired,  oiled,  and  consequently  darkened,  the  stalls 
looked  like  decayed  stone,  being  grey  with  age. 
Pending  this  work.  Divine  Service  was  transferred 
from  the  choir  to  the  north-west  chapel,  a  circum- 
stance alluded  to  by  the  poet-bishop  of  Western  New 
York — Dr  Cleveland  Coxe — in  that  pleasant  book, 
"  Impressions  of  England,"  descriptive  of  his  visit  to 
our  shores  during  the  great  Exhibition  year  of  1851. 
Arriving  at  Lincoln  from  Peterborough  in  the  morning 
he  sees  the  cathedral  "  on  its  sovereign  hill,"  and  hears 
Great  Tom  "  swinging  slow  with  sullen  roar."  "  The 
restorations  in  the  choir,"  he  informs  us,  "  had  driven 
the  service  into  a  little  chapel  near  the  west  end  ;  but 
the  singing  was  very  sweet  and  solemn,  though 
entirely  without  ceremony.     I  devoted  the  morning  to 

I 


I30       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

the  survey  of  this  model  of  art,  which  I  like  the 
better  because  it  is  in  part  a  monument  of  the 
Anglican  liberties,  as  they  were  maintained  in  the 
Middle  Ages  against  the  Roman  Pontiff.  The  central 
tower  [the  lantern.  Bishop  Coxe  should  have  said] 
is  the  work  of  brave  old  Bishop  Grostete  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  He  was  the  predecessor  of 
Wycliffe  and  Cranmer  in  defying  the  Pope,  and  in 
spite  of  Papal  anathemas,  he  died  in  peaceful  posses- 
sion of  his  See.     All  honour  to  his  pious  memory." 

The  bishop's  throne  at  the  east  end  of  the  stalls 
on  the  epistle  side  is  a  work  of  1778,  and  for  its  date 
very  creditable.  The  pulpit  was  erected  in  1866 
from  Sir  Gilbert  Scott's  designs,  as  a  testimonial  to 
the  exertions  in  the  cause  of  church  architecture, 
of  the  late  Bishop  of  Nottingham,  Dr  Trollope,  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  that  invaluable  contribu- 
tion to  English  topographical  literature,  "  Murray's 
Handbook  to  Lincolnshire."  The  brazen  eagle 
lectern  in  the  centre  of  the  choir  dating  from  1667, 
and  the  noble  chandelier  or  branch  suspended  from 
the  roof  are  likewise  elements  conducive  to  the 
allied  grandeur  and  picturesqueness  of  the  choir, 
which  is  separated  from  the  nave  by  a  solid  screen 
or  jube,^  of  Early  Decorated  character.  This  is 
one  of  the  nine  ancient  cathedral  roodlofts  still  in 
existence ;  the  others  being  Exeter,  Ripon, 
Rochester,  Southwell,  and  St  David's — all  of  the 
Decorated  period  ;  and  Canterbury,  Norwich,  Wells, 
and  York  of  the  Perpendicular. 

^  So  called  from  the  words  "Jube  Domine  benedicere,"  the 
formula  used  prefatory  to  the  singing  of  the  Gospel  which 
anciently  took  place  on  the  screen. 


LINCOLN  131 

Anterior  to  the  Reformation,  the  organ  at  Lincoln 
was  disposed  above  the  stalls  at  their  east  end  on  the 
north  side,  and  this  position  was  retained  until  some 
time  in  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  instrument 
was  removed  and  erected  on  the  screen.  A  view  by- 
Hollar  in  Dugdale's  Monasticon  shows  the  organ,  in 
a  very  simple  case,  in  its  old  position.  Some  altera- 
tions were  made  in  the  shape  of  the  case,  when  it 
was  placed  upon  the  screen. 

In  Wild's  sumptuous  monograph  on  the  cathedral 
published  in  18 19,  this  case  is  shown,  but  it  dis- 
appeared on  the  introduction  of  a  new  instrument  in 
1826  by  Allen — a  builder  of  some  repute,  who  died  in 
Sutton  Street,  Soho,  14th  August  1833 — when  a  Gothic 
case  in,  for  the  time,  very  passable  style  was  provided 
for  it.  This  organ,  enlarged  and  improved  from  time 
to  time,  gave  place  in  1898  to  an  entirely  new  and 
unusually  complete  four  manual  organ  by  Willis,  from 
the  specification  drawn  up  by  the  late  Mr  J.  M.  W. 
Young,  who  retired  from  the  post  of  organist  in 
1895,  after  forty-five  years'  tenure.  Mr  Young  was  a 
chorister  of  Durham  Cathedral  under  Henshaw,  whose 
organ  pupil  he  was,  and  to  whom  in  1843  he  became 
assistant.  His  life  was  practically  spent  at  Lincoln, 
where  he  loved  every  stone  of  the  minster,  and  more 
than  one  pleasant  visit  to  the  veteran  organist  at  his 
delightful  old  residence  in  Minster  Yard,  facing  the 
great  grey  east  end,  and  Chapter-house  with  its 
tentacle-like  buttresses,  can  be  remembered. 

It  was  always  a  treat,  when  on  one  of  these  visits, 
to  be  permitted  to  accompany  Mr  Young  to  the 
organ-loft,  to  see  and  hear  him  play  the  grand  old 
services  and   anthems  from  the  first  editions  of  the 


132       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

cathedral  music  of  Boyce  and  Arnold,  and  of  the 
collections  of  Croft,  Greene,  Boyce,  Hayes,  Page,  and 
others.  Like  those  of  his  old  friend,  Dr  E.  J. 
Hopkins,  Mr  Young's  accompaniments  were  almost 
always  independent  of  the  voices,  and  some  of  the 
feeblest  passages  in  the  services  and  anthems  of 
Kent,  Clarke  Whitfeld,  and  others  of  the  later 
Georgian  school  were  rendered  palatable  by  his 
musician-like  organ  parts.  As  a  trainer  of  boys' 
voices,  Mr  Young  stood  unrivalled,  while  to  the 
chanting  of  the  Psalms  he  paid  such  attention,  that 
they  were  worth  a  journey  to  Lincoln  to  hear  alone. 
The  music  was  a  perfect  commentary  upon  the 
words,  and  a  careful  examination  of  his  Pointed 
Psalter  will  prove  with  what  care  he  studied  the 
spirit  of  the  old  Hebrew  poets. 

To  form  the  sanctuary,  two  bays  are  taken  out  of 
the  five  constituting  the  Angel  Choir,  The  lower 
part  of  the  altar  screen  retains  a  considerable  portion 
of  ancient  work,  but  it  was  repaired  and  supple- 
mented in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  by 
James  Essex  —  alluded  to  in  the  previous  chapter 
— and  to  whom  we  owe  the  tall  gabled  arch 
surmounting  the  altar,  which  was  copied  by  him 
from  Bishop  De  Luda's  tomb  in  the  choir  at 
Ely.  Originally  this  arch  was  filled  with  a  painting 
of  the  Annunciation,  but  upon  the  completion  of  the 
present  stained  glass  in  the  east  window  (c.  1854) 
this  picture  was  removed  and  tracery  inserted  in 
lieu  thereof  from  the  designs  of  the  late  Mr  John 
Chessell  Buckler,  for  many  years  guardian  to  the 
fabric,  and  who  in  1822  had  published  "Views  of 
Cathedral  Churches  in  England,"  which  were  princi- 


LINCOLN  133 

pally  copied  from  those  previously  published  prints 
of  his  father,  John  Buckler,  which  did  much,  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  to  keep  alive  that  love  for  mediaeval 
architecture  which  has  never  been  suffered  to  die  out 
in  England.  Essex  much  wanted  to  shift  the  stalls 
from  their  place  in  St  Hugh's  work  into  the  Angel 
Choir.  This  proposal,  so  ignorant  and  so  utterly 
subversive  of  all  mediaeval  tradition,  fortunately  met 
with  a  decided  negative  from  the  Dean  and  Chapter, 
who  at  a  period  of  general  laxity  in  ecclesiastical 
matters  appear  to  have  been  extraordinarily  solicitous 
for  the  well-being  of  their  cathedral,  to  judge  from 
the  following  preface  to  : 

A 

Collection  of 

Old  and  Modem 

Anthems 

as  they  are  now  performed  in  the 

Cathedral  Church  of  the  Blessed 

Virgin  Mary  in  Lincoln. 

Published  by  the  Command,  and  at  the  Expence,  of  the  present 

Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  for  the  Use  of  this  Cathedral. 

By  the  Rev.  the  Succentor. 


Lincoln. 
Printed  BY  W.  Wood.    1775.^ 

"It  must  give  great  pleasure  to  every  Lover  of 
sacred  Antiquity  to  be  informed  that  the  late  Right 
Reverend  Dr  John  Thomas,^  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 

*  A  copy  of  this  "Words  of  Anthems"  bound  in  crimson 
morocco  with  gilt  edges,  and  very  prettily  tooled  on  back  and 
sides  is  in  the  musical  library  of  Mr  John  S.  Bumpus. 

'  Translated  to  Salisbury  in  1761. 


134       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

examining,  and  finding  the  fabrick  Estates  of  this 
Cathedral  insufficient  to  support  it  in  necessary 
Repairs,  his  Lordship  moved  and  cited  the  Dean  and 
great  Chapter,  and  entered  with  them  into  this 
generous  Plan,  of  their  dedicating  the  Tenths  of 
all  their  Fines  to  the  Reparations  and  decent 
Ornaments  of  this  Minster,  which  was  unanimously- 
agreed  to,  and  confirmed  by  a  publick  Chapter  Act 
in  July,  1755,  and  is  now  patronized  and  inforced  by 
our  present  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God,  John,^  by 
divine  Permission  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  and  the 
Right  Reverend  and  Honourable  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
St  David's,  the  Dean,  and  the  Reverend  the  Chapter 
of  this  Church. 

From  this  Fund  of  Beneficence,  this  noble 
Cathedral,  distinguished  for  its  Antiquity,  its 
extensive  Structure,  and  Variety  of  Style  in  its 
Architecture,  we  experience  not  only  to  be  put  in 
thorough  Repair,  but  many  of  its  decayed 
Monuments  restored,  an  elegant  Altar  Piece  erected, 
and  so  many  other  useful  ornaments  have  been  and 
are  daily  added,  that  we  may  hope  that  this 
Cathedral  will  very  shortly  recover,  and  be  restored 
to  its  pristine  Dignity  and  Magnificence,  and  may 
long  be  supported  under  the  Protection  of  God 
Almighty,  and  continue  founded  upon  a  Rock,  an 
Ornament  to  this  Kingdom,  a  Light  and  Example  to 
other  Churches,  and  a  Glory  to  our  Father  which  is 
in  Heaven." 

With  regard  to  its  ancient  fenestral  embellishment 

^  John  Green,  who  held  the  See  till  1779,  but  who,  like  most  of 
the  Georgian  prelates,  did  little  or  nothing  to  hand  his  name 
down  to  posterity. 


LINCOLN  135 

Lincoln  Cathedral  fared  slightly  better  than  her  three 
eastern  sisters,  Ely,  Norwich,  and  Peterborough, 
during  the  Civil  Wars.  The  great  plate-traceried  rose 
in  the  north  transept  displays  stained  glass  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  exquisite  in  colouring,  while  in 
drawing  it  is  as  accurately  and  classically  correct 
as  that  of  the  purest  ages  of  Greek  art.  The 
fourteenth-century  circle  in  the  opposite  transept, 
whose  tracery  is  among  the  most  graceful  produced 
during  the  curvilinear  phase  of  Decorated,  is,  together 
with  the  four  lancets  below,  filled  with  fragments  of 
old  glass  collected  from  different  windows  in  the 
cathedral.  There  are  also  some  mediaeval  remains  in 
the  eastern  window  of  either  choir  aisle.  Of  modem 
stained  glass  Lincoln  Cathedral  can  boast  a  goodly 
supply,  but  little  of  it  rises  above  mediocrity.  Of  the 
medallion  glass  inserted  in  1854  by  Ward  in  the 
great  east  window,  I  have  already  made  mention.  It 
replaced  some  by  Peckitt  of  York  (c.  1762)  which 
has  been  distributed  among  the  lancets  of  the  north- 
eastern transept.  The  coupled  lancets  in  the  north 
aisle  of  the  nave  are  entirely  filled  with  stained  glass 
by  Ward  and  Hughes,  of  which  all  that  can  be  said  is, 
that  it  has  the  merit  of  uniformity.  In  the  opposite 
aisle  various  artists  have  been  employed,  with  the 
unsatisfactory  result,  usual  under  such  circumstances, 
that  by  the  Revs.  A.  and  F.  Sutton — very  clever 
clerical  amateurs — exhibiting  the  greatest  intelligence 
and  grasp  of  true  principles.  These  gentlemen  have 
executed  other  work  in  the  cathedral :  in  the 
clerestory  of  the  choir,  the  south-eastern  transept, 
and  at  the  western  end  of  the  nave,  this  last  looking 
exceedingly   well   under  conditions  of  a  fine  sunset. 


136       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Hedgeland's  single  effigies  in  the  southern  lancets  of 
the  south-east  transept  are  rather  hot  in  tincture,  but 
improve  on  a  distant  view. 

Messrs  Clayton  and  Bell's  historical  series  in  the 
Chapter-house  is  excellent. 

In  length,  Lincoln  Cathedral  is  only  a  few  feet 
shorter  than  York  Minster — 481  as  against  486.  Both 
churches  are  absolutely  the  largest  in  England  in 
extent  of  roof,  in  which  the  altitude  is  maintained  at 
nearly  the  same  level  from  end  to  end.  The  greater 
lengths  of  Winchester  and  St  Alban's,  530  and  520  feet, 
are  due  to  their  long,  low,  eastern  chapels ;  while  the 
same  superior  length  is  given  to  Canterbury,  514  feet, 
by  Becket's  Crown,  to  Westminster,  505  feet,  by 
Henry  VH.'s  Chapel,  both  distinct,  though  annexed 
buildings,  and  to  Ely,  517  feet,  by  the  Galilee  at  the 
west  end. 

Unlike  many  of  our  cathedrals  Lincoln  has  never 
undergone  a  restoration  involving  the  disuse  of 
various  portions  for  a  considerable  number  of  years, 
but  much  quiet,  reparative  work  was  successively 
carried  on  under  Mr  J.  C.  Buckler  and  Mr  J.  L. 
Pearson,  the  latter  of  whom  doubtless  drew  his 
inspiration  for  certain  details  in  those  epoch- 
marking  churches,  St  John's,  Red  Lion  Square,  St 
Augustine's,  Kilburn,  and  St  Agnes,  Liverpool,  from 
it.  One  important  and  welcome  work  was  the  lower- 
ing of  the  soil  on  the  south  side  of  the  nave — a  vast 
improvement,  giving  much  greater  dignity  to  the 
elevation,  and  enabling  the  lovely  Early  English 
Galilee  porch,  which  occupies  so  unique  a  position  on 
the  western  side  of  the  south  transept,  to  be  seen  in 
its  true  dimensions,  while  by  the   removal   of  some 


LINCOLN  137 

houses  adjacent  to  the  Chapter-house,  a  magnificent 
view  of  the  whole  north  side  of  the  minster  has  been 
obtained. 

Lincoln  is  a  Cathedral  of  the  old  foundation, 
retaining  the  three  great  dignitaries,  the  Dean,  the 
Precentor,  and  the  Chancellor.  There  are  four 
choristers  and  eight  "  Burghersh  chanters "  on  the 
Foundation,  and  such  further  number  of  super- 
numerary singing  boys  as  the  Dean  and  Chapter 
from  time  to  time  approve.  The  four  choristers 
wear,  instead  of  surplices,  black  cloth  gowns,  with 
sleeves  and  white  facings,  over  their  cassocks — this 
vestment  being  really  a  remnant  of  the  mediaeval 
choral  cope.  On  the  admission  of  a  chorister  at 
Lincoln  Cathedral,  a  religious  service  of  a  very 
solemn  character  is  used.  The  candidate  is  pre- 
sented to  the  Dean,  or  Canon  Residentiary,  and 
after  promising  obedience  in  all  things  lawful,  is 
thus  addressed,  according  to  the  ancient  formula : — 

"Thou  art  admitted  a  chorister  of  the  Cathedral 
Church  of  Lincoln.  Take  thou  good  heed  that  what 
thou  sayest  with  thy  mouth  thou  dost  believe  in  thy 
heart,  that  what  thou  dost  believe  in  thy  heart  thou 
dost  practise  in  thy  life ;  and  may  God  grant  thee 
grace  so  to  worship  and  serve  Him  on  earth,  that 
thou  mayest  praise  Him  eternally  among  the  re- 
deemed in  Heaven." 


CHAPTER  V 


SALISBURY 


The  wise  policy  of  Archbishop  Lanfranc  caused  the 
seats  of  many  of  our  EngHsh  bishoprics  to  be 
transferred  to  more  important  places  by  decree  of 
the  Council  of  London,  held  in  1075.  At  that  time, 
Herbert  of  Lotharingia  was  Bishop  of  Sherborne  and 
Wilton,  having  some  time  before  united  the  Sees. 

Coming  under  the  operation  of  this  decree,  he 
commenced  the  building  of  a  new  cathedral  within 
the  precincts  of  the  Castle  of  Sarum,  his  future 
"  Episcopal  city,"  so  that  it  was  one  of  the  earliest 
great  churches  built  under  the  Norman  dynasty, 

Herbert  was  succeeded  in  1078  by  Osmund,  who, 
having  exchanged  the  life  of  a  noble  for  that  of  a 
churchman,  and  having  been  eminent  for  his  sanctity, 
was  canonised  in  the  fifteenth  century,  leaving  a 
name  memorable  in  the  English  Church  as  that  of 
the  compiler  of  the  Sarum  Use,  so  long  the  most 
generally  received  ritual  of  the  Anglo-Catholic 
Church.     It  is  the  Use  on  which  our  present  Book  of 


138 


I  ROM    IHIC   Ct.OISTERi 


ALISBURY     .     . 
'     CATHEDRAL. 


SALISBURY  139 

Common  Prayer  is  founded,  and,  within  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century,  not  a  few  churches  have 
revived  that  splendid,  but  somewhat  intricate 
ceremonial,  use  of  colours,  and  so  forth,  which 
had  been  well-nigh  forgotten  for  more  than  three 
hundred  years.  Among  other  interesting  "  uses," 
the  Sarum  Rite  prescribes  red  as  the  colour  for  the 
altar  frontals  and  vestments  of  the  ministers  for  a 
large  proportion  of  the  Sundays  throughout  the 
ecclesiastical  year ;  and  a  very  curious  survival  of 
this  custom  is  explained  by  the  general  use  of 
crimson  for  the  altar  frontals  of  our  churches,  until 
the  Oxford  Movement,  with  ritualism  as  its  logical 
sequence,  revived  the  use  of  the  colours  proper  to 
the  several  seasons,  and  which  in  delault  of  know- 
ledge respecting  our  English  Uses,  at  first  followed 
the  ordinary  Latin  one. 

Whether  the  labours  of  St  Osmund  were  so  large 
as  is  often  supposed  is  questionable ;  indeed,  several 
of  our  most  learned  ritualists  agree  in  thinking  that 
his  work  has  been  exaggerated.  It  is  possible  that 
he  did  no  more  than  revive  the  rubrics  and  the  music 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  We  know  that  in  the  abbey  of 
Glastonbury  serious  disturbances  occurred  in  conse- 
quence of  innovations  forced  upon  the  Anglo-Saxon 
community  by  the  intruded  Norman  abbot,  Thurstan. 
These  appear  to  have  originated  in  the  affection  of 
the  religious  for  the  ancient  method  of  chanting, 
rather  than  in  any  attempt  to  change  the  services 
themselves.  To  whatever  extent  Osmund  may 
have  carried  his  revision  of  the  Liturgy,  the  book 
became  a  standard  for  the  greater  part  of  England 
and  the  whole  of  Ireland.      The  Use  of  York  did  not, 


I40       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

in  all  probability,  obtain  authority  out  of  the  province, 
and  that  of  Hereford  was  almost  certainly  diocesan. 
Within  due  limits,  each  diocese  might  have  an  office 
in  honour  of  a  local  saint,  or  some  hymns  (as  at 
Worcester)  peculiar  to  itself;  and  it  is  to  these 
variations  from  the  established  standard  that  the 
preface  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  refers,  under 
the  name  of  "  Synodals,"  so  called,  probably,  from 
their  having  received  the  sanction  of  a  diocesan 
synod  only.^ 

Foreigners  who  visited  England  in  pre- Reformation 
days  were  astonished  at  the  splendour  and  decorum 
of  the  English  ritual  as  carried  out  in  our  churches, 
whether  cathedral,  collegiate,  conventual,  or  parochial. 
But  years  rolled  on,  and  there  came  a  day — the  17th 
of  February,  1541-42,  when  Cranmer  moved  the 
Convocation  of  Canterbury  that  missals  and  other 
Liturgic  books  might  be  reformed.  And  on  21st 
February  of  1542-43  the  Archbishop  announced  the 
pleasure  of  Henry  VHI.  that  all  Mass  Books  should 
be  examined  over  again,  and  the  service  completed 
out  of  the  Scriptures  and  other  authentic  doctors. 
Accordingly  in  1548  came  forth  an  Order  of  Com- 
munion, followed  in  1 549  by  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  known  as  Edward's  First  Book ;  and  on 
1st  February  1549-50  an  Act  of  Parliament  required 
that  "  all  books  called  Antiphons,  Missals,  Grails, 
Processionals,  Manuals,  Sequences,  Pies,  Portuasses 
.  .  .  Ordinals  .  .  .  heretofore  used  for  service  of  the 
Church  .  .  .  shall  be  by  authority  of  the  present  Act 
clearly    and    utterly    abolished,    extinguished,    and 

^  In  France  many  diocesan  Uses  were  kept  up  until  the 
middle  of  the  last  century. 


SALISBURY  141 

forbidden  ever  to  be  used  or  kept  in  this  realm."  So 
fell  the  grand  old  Use  of  Sarum — passing  by  its  brief 
revival  under  Queen  Mary  —  that  venerable  rite, 
according  to  which  for  five  hundred  years  at  the 
least,  the  sacrifice  of  the  New  Law  had  been  duly 
offered,  as  a  pure  offering,  within  the  Church  and 
realm  of  England. 

With  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  a  rigorous  search 
was  made  for  all  the  old  Service  Books,  and  particu- 
larly for  missals,  which  were  destroyed  as  fast  as 
found.  Thus  it  came  about  that  so  few  copies  are 
extant  of  the  many  thousand  Books  of  Oflfices — most 
of  them  specimens  of  illumination  that  grew  under 
the  unwearying  pencils  and  brushes  of  the  religious, 
until  each  page  presented  an  embroidery  of  gorgeous 
colouring — which  must  at  one  time  have  been  found  on 
the  stalls,  lecterns,  and  numerous  altars  of  our  churches. 

An  ancient  Hereford  Office  Book  was  discovered 
in  1834  by  William  Hawes — Master  of  the  Choristers, 
Almoner,  and  Vicar  Choral  of  St  Paul's  from  181 2 
to  1846 — on  a  bookstall  in  Drury  Lane.  It  attracted 
his  notice  from  the  quantity  of  music  which  appeared 
interspersed  with  it,  and  on  examination  turned  out 
to  be  a  fine  and  nearly  perfect  copy  of  an  Antiphon- 
arium  of  1265,  containing  the  old  "Hereford  Use." 
Hawes  thereupon  communicated  with  the  Dean  of 
Hereford — Dr  Merewether — on  the  subject,  who,  after 
consultation  with  his  brethren  of  the  Chapter,  agreed 
to  purchase  it  at  the  price  of  £12,  12s.,  as  appears 
from  the  following  interesting  autograph  letter  in  the 
collection  of  Mr  John  S.  Bumpus  : — 

"  Dear  Sir, — At  Chapter  on  Tuesday  I  prevailed 
on  my  brethren  to  purchase  the  manuscript  you  left 


142       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

with  me,  at  the  price  you  named  (twelve  guineas), 
and  that  sum  has  been  placed  at  Sir  John  Lubbock's 
payable  to  your  order,  so  that  you  have  only  to  draw 
on  them  for  it  'as  advised  by  the  Hereford  Bank,' 
to  receive  it. 

"  I  have  to  thank  you  for  being  the  means  of  restor- 
ing this  curious  document  to  the  cathedral  to  which 
it  once  belonged,  and  I  should  be  obliged  to  you  if 
you  would  let  me  have  authentic  information  from 
yourself  as  to  the  circumstances  of  its  discovery,  at 
the  same  time  that  you  inform  me  that  you  have 
received  the  money. 

I  should  also  be  obliged  to  you  if  you  would  send 
me  four  copies  of  Attwood's  '  Cantate  Domino '  as 
used  at  St  Paul's  at  the  Festival  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Clergy,  and  two  copies  of  Handel's  Ordination  Hymn, 
'  Veni  Creator,'  or  '  Come,  Holy  Ghost'  I  think  it 
is  set  by  Corfe  of  Salisbury.  I  hope  your  daughter  * 
has  recovered  from  her  cold  as  well  as  yourself. 
And  I  remain, — Dear  Sir,  Your  faithful  servant, 

John  Merewether. 

"Deanery,  Hereford, 
\%th  Sept.  1834." 

Twenty-five  years  later  another  very  interesting 
liturgical  discovery  was  made  in  the  shape  of  a 
Hereford  missal,  said  to  have  belonged  to  the 
Franciscans,  and  to  have  been  carried  abroad  with 
them,  and  to  have  been  brought  back  with  other 
books  and  kept  packed  up  ;  no  one  knowing  anything 
about  them.  Mr  Maskell,  a  gentleman  well  learned 
in  ritual  matters,  was  consulted  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  Bishop  of  the  district,  who  told  him  that 
there  was  among  these  books  a  missal   plainly  not 

*  Miss  Maria  B.  Hawes,  the  distinguished  contralto,  who 
sang  "O  Rest  in  the  Lord"  at  the  first  public  performance  of 
Mendelssohn's  Elijah  at  the  Birmingham  Festival  of  1846. 


SALISBURY  143 

of  Sarum  Use,  which  was  of  course  concluded  at  once 
to  be  a  foreign  Use,  until  the  erasures  of  the  refer- 
ences to  the  Pope,  and  the  name  of  the  book  of 
"  Helford  "  (as  it  appears  in  the  title  and  colophon) 
were  mentioned.  This,  of  course,  raised  Mr  Maskell's 
curiosity  :  the  book  was  sent  for  immediately,  and 
the  nature  of  the  treasure  ascertained.  It  was  a 
handsome  copy,  and  in  good  order,  except  that 
some  one  had  made  private  property  of  the  binding. 
The  trustees  of  the  British  Museum  purchased  this 
Hereford  missal  in  1858  for  ^^300. 

The  suppression  and  subsequent  destruction  of 
these  noble  volumes,  particularly  of  the  Gradual 
and  Processional,  left  us  at  the  dawn  of  the  Reforma- 
tion without  any  hymnal.  The  reformers  wished  to 
translate  the  ancient  hymns  of  the  English  Church  as 
contained  in  the  old  Office  Books,  but  confessed 
themselves  unequal  to  the  task.  Cranmer  in  par- 
ticular (to  whom  I  may  refer  as  an  argumentum  ad 
hominem)  expressed  his  wish  that  others  might 
arise  to  effect  that  which,  in  this  respect,  he  left 
unperformed.  But  three  centuries  rolled  away  before 
any  person  or  sets  of  persons  applied  themselves 
to  the  task  of  presenting  us  with  these  venerable 
and  truly  inspired  Songs  of  Zion  in  the  vernacular.^ 
Steps  were  taken  early  in  the  last  century  by  Bishop 
Mant,  Rev.  Edward  Caswall,  Rev.  J.  Chandler,  and 

*  As,  for  instance,  "  Creator  alme  siderum "  (for  Advent) ; 
"  Jesu  Redemptor  omnium  "  (for  Christmas)  ;  "  Vexilla  Regis 
prodeunt"  (for  Passion-tide)  ;  "Salve  festa  Dies"  (for  Easter)  ; 
"Veni  Sancte  Spiritu3"  (for  Whitsuntide);  "Urbs  beata" 
(for  Dedication)  ;  "  Sanctorum  meritis  inclyta  gaudia "  (for 
Apostles) ;  and  "  O  beata  beatorum  "  (for  Martyrs). 


144       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

some  few  others  towards  supplying  this  desideratum, 
but  the  chief  praise  is  due  to  the  Ecclesiological 
Society,  who,  when  the  attention  of  that  body  was 
drawn  to  the  wretched  state  of  our  hymnody  sixty 
years  ago,  could  only  act  on  the  same  principle 
which  they  endeavoured  to  carry  out  in  all  things, 
that  they  were  Catholics  in  the  first  place,  and 
English  Catholics  in  the  second.  They  felt  that 
they  could  look  for  our  hymns  to  only  one  source, 
the  Offices  of  the  elder  English  Church.  And  of  the 
various  Uses  of  that  Church,  the  ritual  of  Sarum  had 
so  incomparably  the  most  authority,  that  its  hymns  i 
were  felt  to  be  the  especial  inheritance  of  English 
churchmen  as  contradistinguished  from  later  Roman 
corrections,  or  rather  deformities  of  them,  on  one 
hand,  and  on  the  other  from  early  or  mediaeval 
hymns,  which,  however  beautiful,  were  never  received 
in  this  country.  Thus  it  came  about,  that  between 
185 1  and  1858,  there  appeared  under  the  skilled 
literary  direction  of  Drs  Neale  and  Irons — to  the 
latter  of  whom  we  owe  a  magnificent  translation  of 
the  Dies  Ires — and  the  no  less  accomplished  musical 
abilities  of  Revs.  Thos.  Helmore  and  S.  S.  Greatheed, 
that  Corolla  Hymnorum,  "  The  Hymnal  Noted."  In 
this  collection  were  once  more  brought  to  light  the 
choicest  words  and  melodies  of  that  venerable 
repertory  of  the  Western  Church,  which,  save  to 
the  learned  few,  had  so  long  remained  forgotten  and 
unknown.  In  their  Latin  originals,  and  in  their 
English  dress,  these  grand — in  some  cases,  perhaps, 
rugged — old  hymns  have  been,  and  still  continue  to 
be,  the  joy  and  consolation  of  many  a  saintly  soul 
along  the  daily  path  of  its  earthly  pilgrimage. 
^  See  Note  on  p.  143. 


SALISBURY  145 

In  1092  St  Osmund  completed  and  dedicated  the 
cathedral  of  Sarum  in  honour  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
Five  days  afterwards  a  storm  destroyed  the  roof. 
Indeed,  the  site  of  the  church  was  so  high,  that "  when 
the  wind  did  blow  they  could  not  hear  the  priest 
say  Mass."  Thus  sings  Peter  de  Blois,  a  canon  of 
the  cathedral : — 

*'  Est  ibi  defectus  aquze,  sed  copia  cretas, 
Saevit  ibi  ventus,  sed  Philomela  silet" 

During  the  whole  of  the  turbulent  twelfth  century, 
this  cathedral  of  Old  Sarum,  built  in  the  form  of  a 
Latin  cross,  with  aisles  to  transepts  as  well  as  to  its 
nave  and  square-ended  choir — a  notable  peculiarity 
in  a  Romanesque  cathedral — continued  to  be  the 
mother  church  of  the  diocese,  though  located  on  a 
bleak  and  circumscribed  area,  and  within  the  walls  of 
a  fortress  where  churchmen  were  exposed  to  all  the 
insults  of  a  barbarous  soldiery.  But  at  length,  on 
28th  April  1220,  Bishop  Roger  Poore  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  present  cathedral  of  Salisbury 
about  a  mile  from  Old  Sarum.  The  spot  selected 
was  then  meadowland,  and  six  years  later,  on  the 
completion  of  the  choir,  the  bodies  of  St  Osmund 
and  of  two  other  predecessors  were  translated  into  the 
newly  finished  portion,  which  must  have  progressed 
with  singular  celerity.  Next,  the  lantern,  the  western 
transepts,  and  the  nave  were  taken  in  hand,  and  the 
building  consecrated  during  the  episcopate  of  Giles 
de  Bridport,  by  Boniface,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
in  the  presence  of  King  Henry  III.,  and  a  distin- 
guished assemblage  of  prelates  and  lay-folk  on  the 
day  after  Michaelmas,  1258. 

Before  the  century  closed,  the  splendid  octagonal 

K 


146       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Chapter  -  house  was  completed,  and  considerable 
progress  was  made  with  the  cloisters.  Thus,  in  a 
shorter  time  than  any  other  on  record,  and  with  very 
marked  delate  the  cathedral  in  all  essentials  stood 
completed. 

Edward  IIL  gave  letters  patent  to  Bishop  Richard 
to  Wyvile,  granting  to  him  and  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  "  all  the  stone  walls  of  the  former  Cathedral 
church  of  Old  Sarum,  and  the  houses  which  latterly 
belonged  to  the  Bishop  and  Canons  of  the  said 
church  within  our  Castle  of  Old  Sarum,  to  have  and 
to  hold,  as  our  gift,  for  the  improvement  of  the 
church  of  New  Sarum,  and  the  close  thereunto 
belonging."  It  is  supposed  that  the  upper  portion 
of  the  tower  and  the  spire  was  built  with  these 
materials.  In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  August 
1835  a  plan,  since  corrected  in  several  particulars,  is 
given  of  Old  Sarum  Cathedral  \  compiled  by  Mr 
Hatcher  of  Salisbury  from  an  examination  of  the 
foundations  of  the  church  in  1834,  in  which  year, 
being  a  very  dry  one,  they  became  distinctly  visible 
through  the  grass.  I  alluded  just  now  to  the  square 
eastern  termination  of  the  old  cathedral.  It  is 
certainly  remarkable  that  the  cathedral,  which  should 
seem  to  have  been  the  first  example  in  England  of 
what  afterwards  became  one  of  the  most  notable 
differences  between  her  cathedrals  and  those  of 
general    Europe,  ^    should   have   been   wholly   or   in 

1  The  dimensions  are  given  as  follows  : — Total  length,  270 
feet ;  length  of  transept,  1 50  feet  ;  of  nave,  1 50  ;  choir,  60  feet ; 
breadth  of  nave,  36  feet ;  of  aisles,  18  feet ;  whole  breadth  of 
transepts,  60  feet. 

'  I  have  dwelt  upon  this  with  some  particularity  in  the 
Introductory  Chapter. 


SALISBURY  147 

part  the  work  of  that  prelate,  whose  recension  of 
her  service  became  the  standard  to  most,  and 
exercised  a  great  influence  over  all  the  English 
Church. 

In  the  case  of  Old  Sarum  Cathedral,  the  provision 
of  numerous  correctly  orientated  altar -spaces  (a 
natural  wish  in  a  bishop  to  whom  the  services  of 
the  church  were  a  matter  of  so  g^eat  interest)  seems 
to  have  been  a  leading  motive  in  laying  out  the 
plan  of  the  present  graceful  building.  For  here, 
besides  the  High  Altar,  there  were  probably  three 
chapels  at  the  east  end,  and  (assuming  each  bay  of 
the  eastern  aisle  of  the  transepts  to  have  been 
screened  off)  six  in  the  arms  of  the  western 
cross,  and  four  in  those  of  the  eastern  :  thirteen 
in  all,  strictly  orientated. 

In  the  previous  chapter  I  gave  some  account  of 
how  square  ends  superseded  apses  in  England,  and  I 
think  I  may  affirm  that  the  victory  was  accomplished 
in  the  cathedral  at  Salisbury,  for  it  is,  prima  facie, 
probable,  that  in  this  new  cathedral  the  Old  Sarum 
traditions  would  be  reproduced. 

Salisbury,  our  only  cathedral  built  on  virgin  soil, 
was  the  offspring  of  one  mind.  Its  proportions  are 
grandiose,  yet  its  plan  is  so  simple  and  symmetrical 
that  it  can  be  realised  at  a  glance.  It  is  not  difficult, 
to  understand  why  Salisbury  Cathedral  should  enjoy 
so  great  a  reputation.  In  spite  of  its  want  of 
elaborate  detail,  it  is,  in  the  first  place,  one  of  the 
grandest  and  most  complete  of  our  cathedrals — the 
only  one,  in  fact,  begun,  continued  and  ended,  in  all 
essentials,  in  one  style — the  early  pure  Gothic  of  the 
first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century.     On  this  account, 


148       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

therefore,  Salisbury  Cathedral  presents  none  of  those 
architectural  problems  that  confront  us  at  almost 
every  turn  at  Canterbury,  Lincoln,  Winchester,  and 
Worcester. 

Particularly  when  viewed  from  the  north-east,  it 
forms  a  picture  of  which  the  interest  is  enhanced  by 
the  framing.  The  majority  of  English  cathedrals 
have  the  privilege  of  being  closely  united  to  the 
green  sward,  but  there  is  not  one  among  them  that 
is  shaded  by  trees  so  imposing  and  gigantic  as  those 
at  Salisbury.  On  the  north  side  we  see  noble  elms 
and  finest  turf  on  which  the  building  seems  to 
repose  ;  on  the  other,  not  only  a  noble  Chapter-house, 
but  cloisters  of  great  size  for  a  cathedral  which,  like 
Salisbury,  is  one  of  the  Old  Foundation — a  bishop's 
church,  simpliciter. 

Such  a  combination  of  the  works  of  nature  and  art 
is  equalled  only  by  that  presented  at  Wells. 

Compared  with  the  more  diversely  detailed  sides 
of  other  English  cathedrals,  this  northern  one  of 
Salisbury  may  be  pronounced  monotonous  in  effect, 
but  in  outline  it  is  a  perfect  poem. 

Stand  at  the  north-east  angle,  and  you  grasp  the 
gables  of  the  Lady  Chapel  and  the  choir,  and  the 
side  of  the  cathedral,  varied  with  its  three  high- 
roofed  projections,  the  two  transepts  almost  touch- 
ing, and  the  porch,  itself  in  size  and  boldness  almost 
a  transept ;  while  far  above  soar  the  wondrous 
tower  and  spire.  To  be  seen  to  advantage,  Salisbury 
Cathedral  should  be  visited  when  the  morning  sun 
lights  up  one  side  of  the  tower  and  the  eastern 
sides  of  the  transepts,  or  when  the  summer  sun  is 
declining   in   the  west,   and  throws   its   golden  rays 


SALISBURY  149 

on  the  northern  faces  of  the  transepts,  tipping  the 
pinnacles  and  the  projections  with  sparkling  gleams 
of  brightness.  At  this  time,  also,  the  recesses  are 
dark  and  solemn,  which  enhances  the  grandeur  and 
augments  the  magnitude  of  the  edifice. 

The  main  points  of  interest  in  this  graceful  church 
of  Sarum,  built  of  freestone  from  the  Chilmark 
quarries  with  a  lavish  use  of  Purbeck  marble,  are 
the  double  transept,  and  the  glorious  tower  sur- 
mounted by  its  spire,  the  work  as  of  an  angel 
architect. 

The  double  transept,  which  had  its  origin  in  St 
Benoit-sur- Loire  and  the  now,  alas  !  desecrated  Cluny, 
became  a  favourite  feature  with  Early  English 
architects  after  its  employment  at  Canterbury.  It 
serves  to  break  up  the  line  of  an  elongated  choir 
very  agreeably,  and  is  a  feature  which  our  architects 
were  never  afraid  of  introducing  because  they  kept 
their  buildings  low.  When  the  church  was  dedicated 
in  1258,  it  had  a  central  tower  rising  only  high 
enough  to  receive  the  roofs  of  the  four  arms.  This 
was  but  a  very  light  structure,  and  was  intended  to 
be  visible  from  within,  thus  forming  a  lantern  above 
the  crossing.  Upon  this  frail  structure  a  fourteenth- 
century  architect  reared  a  two-storied  to\yer  and  a 
spire  which  he,  who  originally  conceived  the  building, 
could  not  (physically,  that  is  to  say)  have  dreamed  of, 
but  the  union  of  the  First  and  Second  Pointed  work 
is  perfect.  This  vast  tower,  some  80  feet  high,  with 
walls  nearly  6  feet  thick,  and  a  spire  rising  180  feet 
more,  so  shattered  the  unduly  loaded  thirteenth- 
century  lantern,  that  although  subsequent  builders 
have  bolstered   the   whole  mass    up   in   every    con- 


ISO       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

ceivable  way,  this  crown  and  glory  of  Salisbury 
Cathedral  has  always  been  a  source  of  anxiety 
and  alarm. 

The  least  satisfactory  part  of  this  uniquely  beauti- 
ful cathedral  is  the  west  front.  An  English  architect 
too  often  treated  his  facade  as  an  independent  com- 
position whose  relations  to  the  building  were  not 
strictly  logical,  the  result  being  that  it  gives  the 
impression  that  its  designer  did  not  consider  the 
difficulties  presented  by  the  problems  of  a  rational 
facade  worth  the  trouble  of  solving,  looking  upon  it 
in  the  light  of  a  gallery  for  the  display  of  sculptured 
imagery.  At  Salisbury  the  architect  has  treated 
his  west  front  somewhat  after  the  fashion  of  those 
quadrangular  "  screen  fagades"  we  meet  in  Central 
Germany,  at  Brunswick,  Gandersheim,  Goslar,  Hal- 
berstadt,  and  Quedlinburg,  or  in  Dutch  Limburg  at 
Maastricht,  stretching  as  it  does  completely  across 
the  church,  and  veiling  the  ends  of  the  lean-to 
roofed  aisles.  In  some  features  the  west  front 
of  Salisbury  recalls  Wells,  but  it  is  far  inferior  in 
poetry  of  design  to  that  of  its  Somersetshire 
sister ;  indeed,  one  is  at  a  loss  to  understand  how 
an  architect  who  was  so  careful  to  express  purpose 
in  the  rest  of  his  building,  should  have  put  together 
so  great  a  number  of  useless  parts  as  in  the  west 
front  of  Salisbury.  Half  a  century  ago,  before  those 
works  of  restoration  were  undertaken  which  have 
rendered  Salisbury  Cathedral  even  more  beautiful 
than  it  was  when  it  left  the  builder's  hand,  its 
western  facade  was  certainly  more  open  to  censure 
than  it  is  at  present.  No  doubt  its  vastly  improved 
effect   is   attributable   to   the    sculpture   with   which 


SALISBURY  151 

it  has  been  almost  entirely  re-furnished,  and  which 
in  some  degree  saves  the  much-abused  portals 
from  appearing  mean. 

Of  the  hundred  and  twenty-three  statues  which 
Professor  Cockerell  calculated  as  appearing  on  the 
west  front  of  Salisbury,  but  a  few  fragments  existed 
when  its  restoration  was  taken  in  hand  some  forty- 
five  years  ago,  so  thoroughly  had  the  iconoclast  done 
his  hateful  work.  The  mediaeval  scheme  doubtless 
embraced  the  Te  Deum,  and  this  was  the  subject 
decided  upon  for  the  new  work  which  was  carried 
out  with  most  scrupulous  care — every  fragment  that 
had  escaped  injury  being  preserved.  The  sculptor 
selected  for  this  great  undertaking  was  James 
Frank  Redfem,  who,  had  he  lived,  would  have 
become  the  greatest  Christian  sculptor  of  his  age. 
When,  between  1851  and  1862,  Rev.  Benjamin 
Webb — the  co-founder  of  the  Ecclesiological  Society, 
and  afterwards  vicar  of  a  church  which  owes  so 
much  to  his  exquisite  taste  and  sound  judgment, 
St  Andrew's,  Wells  Street — held  his  first  benefice, 
Sheen  in  Staffordshire,  in  a  limestone  district  that 
had  already  produced  Chantrey,  he  heard  of  an 
uncultivated  lad  named  Redfern,  who  amused  him- 
self with  a  penknife  by  modelling  in  the  round 
in  alabaster  from  pictures  in  the  Illustrated  London 
News,  although  he  had  never  seen  any  carving. 
Finding  the  youth  had  genius,  Mr  Webb  spoke  to 
Beresford  Hope,  who  had  him  educated  in  the 
village  school. 

Subsequently,  the  same  generous  patron  sent  him 
to  study,  first  to  Messrs  Clayton  and  Bell,  and  after- 
wards to  Paris. 


152       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Redfern  was  but  one-and-twenty  when,  in  1859, 
he  began  to  exhibit  at  the  Royal  Academy,  his 
first  work,  Cain  and  Abel,  attracting  the  notice  of 
Henry  Foley.  In  conjunction  with  Sir  Gilbert  Scott, 
Redfern  was  entrusted  with  the  renovation  of  the 
sculpture  in  the  west  front  of  Salisbury  Cathedral 
sixty  of  the  figures  being  produced  from  his  chisel 
between  1863  and  1876. 

To  the  same  period  belongs  the  Session  in 
Majesty  within  the  entrance  to  the  Chapter-house 
at  Westminster  Abbey. 

For  Mr  Slater  he  carried  out  that  sculpture  of  the 
Resurrection  in  the  tympanum  of  the  doorway  to 
the  Digby  Mortuary  Chapel  at  Sherborne,  which 
is  so  suggestive  of  foreign  work  ;  while  under  Mr 
Street  he  produced  the  altar-piece  in  St  Andrew's, 
Wells  Street,  and  those  figures  of  the  Latin  Doctors, 
whose  rejection  on  theological  grounds  from  the  north 
porch  of  Bristol  Cathedral,  is  said  to  have  accelerated 
his  death,  which  occurred  on  13th  June  1876. 

Notwithstanding  the  restrictions  imposed  upon 
himself  by  the  architect,  and  the  want  of  mural 
and  vitreous  decoration  in  nave  and  transepts,  the 
interior  of  Salisbury  Cathedral  has  a  power  of  which 
few  can  resist  the  influence.  It  may  be  interesting 
to  analyse  briefly  the  causes  which  have  produced 
so  beautiful  an  effect  in  an  interior,  at  once  so  simple 
and  so  regular.  The  Isle  of  Purbeck  was  in  the 
diocese,  and  there  was  every  reason,  therefore,  for 
indulging  as  much  as  possible  in  the  use  of  its 
beautiful  marble. 

The  introduction  of  detached  shafts  wherever 
possible,  and  which  was  the  natural  sequence  to  the 


:ix\'\'.,  \.) 


ALISBURV      . 
*     CATHEDRAL. 


SALISBURY  153 

use  of  marble,  wholly  changed  the  character  of  the 
architecture.  The  effect  at  Salisbury  is  admirable, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  risk  in  construction  was 
great.  A  careful  examination  of  this  cathedral  will 
discover  for  us  a  very  considerable  variety  in  the 
plans  of  the  clustered  columns.  In  the  nave  the 
pillars  are  composed  of  a  cylinder,  with  four  slender 
shafts  disposed  around  it.  In  the  western  transepts 
they  form  a  quatrefoil  on  section ;  in  the  choir  the 
main  pier  is  surrounded  by  a  graceful  cluster  of  eight 
shafts ;  while  in  the  Lady  Chapel  we  find  solitary 
cylindrical  ones,  so  long,  so  delicate,  and  apparently 
so  frail,  as  to  have  required  the  very  highest  skill 
to  ensure  their  standing,  as  they  do,  nearly  seven 
hundred  years  after  their  erection. 

But  except  in  the  capitals  of  the  shafts  supporting 
the  inverted  arches  which  the  fourteenth  century 
threw  across  the  entrances  to  the  eastern  pair  of 
transepts  from  the  choir,  not  one  stroke  of  the  chisel 
— nothing  which  suggests  man's  hand — is  to  be 
discovered  from  the  west  door  to  the  altar  at  the 
extremity  of  the  Lady  Chapel.  I  do  not,  of  course, 
refer  to  minor  details,  such  as  tombs,  etc.  And  this 
circumstance,  combined  with  a  want  of  colour,  imparts 
an  air  of  coldness  and  regularity  to  the  pile  which 
only  wears  off  after  repeated  visits. 

Equally  austere,  and  even  less  diversified,  is  the 
fenestration  of  this  cathedral — the  lancet  being  used 
throughout  the  building,  except  at  the  west  ends 
of  the  nave  aisles,  in  the  faces  of  the  transepts,  where 
we  perceive  the  adumbration  of  tracery,  and  in 
the  cloisters  and  Chapter-house.  These  last  are 
subsequent    additions,    and    exhibit   the   thirteenth- 


154       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

century  style  in  that  state  transitionary  between  its 
lancet  and  fully  developed  Decorated  stages,  which 
it  assumed  between  1270  and  1290.  The  cloisters, 
which  are  co-extensive  in  length  with  the  nave, 
though  quite  independent  of  its  southern  aisle,  a 
passage  known  as  "The  Plumberies"  intervening, 
appear  from  documentary  evidence  to  have  been 
in  progress  during  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  yet  no  change  in  style  is  here  perceptible. 
They  form  a  perfect  square,  have  four  very  wide 
walks,  and  for  a  church  which  never  had  any 
monastic  establishment  in  connection  with  it,  are 
of  extraordinarily  noble  dimensions. 

Standing  at  their  south-west  corner,  and  having 
as  a  framework  one  of  their  gracefully  traceried 
openings,  a  lovely  architectural  picture  is  presented 
by  these  grey  stone  entourages  rising  apparently 
from  the  close-shaven  turf  of  their  garth,  with 
its  two  goodly  cedar  trees,  completed  by  the 
matchless  tower  and  spire  soaring  up  in  the  angle 
formed  by  the  nave  and  south  transept. 

The  Chapter-house,  entered  from  the  eastern  walk 
of  the  cloisters,  is  a  noble  and  luminous  octagon, 
having  an  internal  diameter  of  about  50  feet  Each 
side  is  occupied  by  a  large  window  of  four  lights 
unfoliated,  and  traceried  with  one  large  and  two 
small  cusped  circles,  while  the  wall  space  below  is 
enriched  with  an  arcade  of  seven  compartments. 
The  double  door  of  entrance,  containing  a  figure 
of  Our  Lord  in  Majesty  within  its  tympanum,  is 
exceedingly  grand.  The  vaulting  ribs  fall  upon  a 
central  pillar,  and  their  filling  in  is  composed  of 
the   same   concrete  found  throughout  the  cathedral. 


SALISBURY  155 

Whether  there  was  or  was  not  anciently  a  high- 
pointed  roof  such  as  exists  at  the  houses  of  York 
and  Lincoln,  and  which  has  been  restored  to  that 
of  Westminster,  remains  a  disputed  point. 

All  we  know  is,  that  the  present  roof  is  modem, 
and  that  the  poinqon  has  evidently  formed  part 
of  an  older  roof  contemporary  with  the  building. 
What  we  desiderate  in  this  otherwise  graceful  and 
lightsome  Chapter-house  at  Salisbury  is  boldness ; 
the  buttresses  have  hardly  sufficient  projection,  and 
the  small  columns  at  the  angles  have  a  somewhat 
reed-like  appearance.  Still,  viewed  from  the  Bishop's 
Garden,  it  groups  well  with  the  cathedral  and 
octagonal  muniment  room  attached  to  the  south- 
eastern transept,  and  constitutes  a  noble  feature  in 
the  brilliant  entourage  of  this,  the  most  picturesque 
and  complete  of  our  great  churches.  Its  restoration, 
undertaken  in  1855,  is  generally  acknowledged  to 
have  been  one  of  the  most  successful  works  of  the 
day.  We  owe  it  to  the  skill  of  the  late  Mr  Henry 
Glutton — who  a  year  later,  in  conjunction  with  Mr 
Burges,  carried  off  the  first  prize  in  the  competition 
open  to  all  Europe  for  erecting  the  Ghurch  of  N6tre 
Dame  de  la  Treille  at  Lille.  Assisted,  and  nobly 
assisted,  by  the  clergy  p.nd  laity  of  the  diocese,  the 
restoration  of  this  elegant  structure  attests  alike  the 
respect  due  to  the  memory  of  Bishop  Denison,  and  the 
recognition  of  an  artistic  object  which  that  excellent 
prelate  had  seriously  at  heart  during  the  whole  of 
his  episcopate  (1837-54).  The  restored  work  was 
reopened  with  an  impressive  service  on  the  after- 
noon of  Wednesday,  30th  July  1856. 

In  the  spandrels  of  the  arcades  below  the  windows 


156       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

is  sculptured  the  cyclus  of  the  Old  Testament  history, 
from  the  Creation  to  the  Delivery  of  the  Law,  in 
high  relief  At  the  time  of  the  Rebellion,  when  the 
Parliamentary  Commissioners  held  their  sittings  in 
this  room,  these  reliefs  were  so  greatly  injured  that 
little  remained  in  some  places  but  the  impression, 
as  it  were,  of  the  shadows  of  the  departed  statuettes 
on  the  wall.  However,  by  the  great  iconographical 
knowledge  of  William  Burges,  considerable  in- 
genuity, almost  equivalent  to  Cuvier's  or  Owen's, 
was  displayed  in  recreating  a  subject  from  the 
disjecta  membra  of  a  single  head  or  foot,  and  though 
often  conjectural,  the  completed  groups  may  be  said 
on  the  whole  to  represent  the  original  designs  with 
much  fidelity.  Mr  Philip  was  the  sculptor  engaged 
on  these  reliefs,  and  their  coloration  was  under- 
taken gratuitously  by  Mr  Octavius  Hudson.  Owing, 
however,  to  the  damp,  this  decoration  began  to 
peel  off,  so  that,  perhaps  wisely,  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  resolved,  five  or  six  years  ago,  to  have  what 
remained  of  it  removed. 

The  well-meant,  but  mistaken  generosity  of  Bishop 
Barrington,^  who  held  the  See  from  1782  to  1791, 
opened  the  door  at  Salisbury  to  an  obliterator  of 
historical  records  in  the  person  of  that  James  Wyatt 
to  whom  allusion  has  been  made  more  than  once 
in  these  pages.  Under  this  "  destructive "  person, 
untold  havoc  was  wrought  in  the  furniture,  decora- 
tions, and  monuments  of  this  cathedral. 

The  mischief  had,  however,  been  inaugurated 
between  1766  and  1782  under  Bishop  Hume.  Until 
then,  the  thirteenth-century  stalls  which  the  choir 
^  See  page  54  in  chapter  on  Durham. 


SALISBURY  157 

had  succeeded  in  keeping,  and  which,  as  specimens 
of  coeval  wood  -  work,  were  both  excellent  and 
valuable,  retained  the  backs  and  canopies  that  had 
been  added  to  them,  in  all  probability  by  Wren. 
Being  voted  "  out  of  character  with  the  style  of  the 
building,"  these  Renaissance  additions  were  removed, 
and  replaced  by  work  of  the  feeblest  pseudo-Gothic 
description,  but  who  the  perpetrator  of  this  piece  of 
mischief  was  I  am  unable  to  discover. 

Next,  Wyatt  appeared  upon  the  scene,  and  "by 
the  addition  of  canopies  and  the  skilful  employment 
or  imitation  of  the  fragments  taken  from  the 
Beauchamp  and  Hungerford  Chapels,  he  succeeded 
in  rendering  the  choir  a  happy  imitation  of  the  florid 
Gothic  "  (! !)  *  To  his  credit  be  it  said,  Wyatt  kept  the 
thirteenth-century  stalls,  but  destroyed  the  original 
Early  English  choir-screen — portions  of  which  still 
remain  in  the  north-east  transept — replacing  it  by 
an  entirely  new  one  from  the  materials  of  two 
chantries,  which  as  "  preposterous  additions,"  he  had 
caused  to  be  removed  from  the  Lady  Chapel. 

Roofs,  some  of  which  retained  their  decorations,^ 
pillars  and  walls,  were  liberally  coated  with  yellow 
wash ;  tombs  were  removed  from  their  places,  and 
ranged  all  down  the  nave  in  formal  rows  between 
the  columns  ;  the  altar  was  dragged  from  its  proper 
position  at  the  east  end  of  the  choir,  and  set  up, 
with  a  reredos  made  up  of  fragments  of  destroyed 
chapels,   at    the    extremity    of   the    Lady   Chapel ; 

*  Dodsworth's  "Salisbury  Cathedral." 

'  Concerning  these  roof  paintings,  an  interesting  corre- 
spondence will  be  found  in  the  Gentlemaris  Magazine  for 
^789,  pp.  874,  1065,  and  1195. 


158       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

and  such  stained  glass  as  had  escaped  Reforming 
Elizabethan  prelates,  and  the  maniacal  fury  of  the 
Roundheads,  was  cast  out ;  some  of  it  finding  its 
way  to  the  emporiums  of  curio-dealers  or  the  houses 
of  dilletanti,  and  the  rest  meeting  with  a  more 
ignominious  fate. 

Upon  the  following  elegant  epistle — dated  1788, 
and  addressed  by  John  Berry,  glazier  of  Salisbury, 
to  a  Mr  Lloyd  of  Conduit  Street,  London — comment 
is  needless: 

"  Sir, — This  day  I  have  sent  you  a  Box  full  of  old 
Stained  and  Painted  glass,  as  you  desired  me  to  due, 
which  I  hope  will  sute  your  Purpos,  it  his  the  best  I 
can  get  at  Present.  But  I  expect  to  Beate  to  Peceais 
a  great  deal  very  sune,  as  it  his  of  now  use  to  me, 
and  we  do  it  for  the  lead.  If  you  want  any  more  of 
the  same  sorts  you  may  have  what  thear  is,  if  it  will 
pay  for  taking  out,  as  it  is  a  Deal  of  Truble  to  what 
Beating  it  to  Peceais  his  ;  you  will  send  me  a  line 
as  soon  as  Possoble,  for  we  are  goain  to  move  our 
glasing  shop  to  a  Nother  plase,  and  thin  we  hope  to 
save  a  great  deal  more  of  the  like  sort,  which  I  ham 
your  most  Omble  Servant —  JOHN  BERRY." 

Yet  despite  its  wretched  solecisms  of  detail,  there 
must  have  been  a  certain  amount  of  solemnity  in 
this  Georgian  mock  -  mediaeval  choir  of  Salisbury, 
calculated  to  impress  the  vulgar,  and  secured, 
perhaps,  by  the  stained  glass  inserted  in  the  triplets 
of  lancets  at  the  east  ends  of  the  choir  and  Lady 
Chapel. 

The  former,  by  Pearson,  from  cartoons  by 
Mortimer,  and  representing  the  lifting  up  of  the 
Brazen    Serpent,    still    remains;    the    latter,    which 


SALISBURY  159 

represented  the  Resurrection,  was  removed  about 
half  a  century  ago  on  the  introduction  of  the 
present  mosaic  glass  by  Wailes.  It  was  designed 
by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  and  executed  by  Eginton, 
who  gained  much  celebrity  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century  as  a  producer  of  transparencies 
on  glass.^  We  can  afford  to  smile  nowadays  at 
such  works,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  their 
authors  did  their  best  to  keep  alive  an  art  which, 
on  the  Continent,  had  almost  completely  died  out. 

Such  fragments  of  old  glass  as  lurked  here  and 
there  after  Wyatt's  besom  of  destruction  had  swept 
over  the  church,  were  collected  and  arranged  in  the 
western  triplet  and  other  windows  in  different  parts. 
The  rest  of  the  stained  glass  at  Salisbury  belongs 
to  the  last  forty  years  of  the  Gothic  Revival.  A  con- 
siderable quantity  is  by  Messrs  Clayton  and  Bell, 
and,  illustrating  as  it  does  the  several  styles  the 
work  of  those  artists  has  passed  through  during 
that  period,  is  not  uninteresting.  In  the  south  aisle 
of  the  nave  and  of  the  choir  is  some  work  of  the 
Holiday  -  Powell,  and  Burne  Jones  -  William  Morris 
fabrique,  but  though  admirable  in  colour  and  draughts- 
manship it  accords  but  ill  with  its  locale. 

Another  of  Wyatt's  delinquencies  at  Salisbury 
was  his  razing  of  the  clochium  or  belfry  which  stood 
a  little    to    the    north-west  of   the    cathedral.      It 

'  Those  sepia  -  coloured  windows  in  the  ante  -  chapel  of 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  are  Eginton's  work,  also  a  singularly 
fine  figure  in  the  same  style  of  Thomas  k  Becket  in  the  Mayor's 
Chapel  at  Bristol.  It  came  from  Fonthill  Abbey  on  the  dis- 
persal of  Beckford's  Collection  in  1824.  The  east  window  of 
St  Paul's  Birmingham,  completed  in  1791,  was  considered 
Eginton's  masterpiece. 


i6o       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

appears  from  early  eighteenth-century  prints  to  have 
been  square  in  form,  rose  in  three  stages  diminishing 
in  ascent,  was  surmounted  by  a  metal  spirelet,  had 
walls  and  buttresses  similar  to  those  of  the  Chapter- 
house, and  a  single  pillar  of  Purbeck  marble  in  the 
centre  of  the  lowest  storey  to  carry  the  ringing 
chamber  and  belfry. 

The  detached  belfry,  though  not  a  general,  has  been 
far  from  an  unusual  feature  in  our  ancient  cathedral 
and  conventual  churches  ;  the  towers  of  the  original 
Norman  churches  being,  for  the  most  part,  low  and 
of  lantern  construction,  rendered  some  other  con- 
trivance necessary  for  the  bells.  At  Chichester, 
parallel  with  the  west  front,  and  a  short  distance 
to  the  north,  stands  a  massive  square  tower  120  feet 
high,  the  upper  storey  octagonal,  flanked  with  small 
turrets.  At  Worcester  an  octagonal  "  clochium," 
surmounted  by  a  very  lofty  lead  spire,  existed  until 
1647.  It  stood  very  close  to  the  north-east  transept. 
Abbot  Lichfield's  tower,  at  Evesham,  built  in  the 
latest  period  of  Pointed  architecture,  stands  in  a  line 
with  the  north  transept  of  the  destroyed  abbey 
church.  There  is  a  tradition  also  of  one  adjoining 
Tewksbury  Abbey.  Nor  is  the  detached  steeple 
uncommon  in  parochial  churches.  We  have 
numerous  examples  in  England,  particularly  in 
the  eastern  counties,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
being  at  Beccles  in  Suffolk  ;  while  in  Bedfordshire 
the  churches  of  Elstow  and  Marston  present  us 
with  instances  of  the  isolated  belfry  tower. 

George  IIL  paid  a  visit  to  Salisbury  Cathedral 
shortly  after  the  completion  of  Wyatt's  "  improve- 
ments," and  it  having  been  remarked  to  His  Majesty 


SALISBURY  i6i 

that  a  new  organ  was  required,  though  the  cost 
would  greatly  exceed  the  means  which  depended 
on  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  gentlemen 
of  the  counties  of  Berks  and  Wilts,  at  that  time 
comprising  the  diocese,  the  King  immediately 
replied :  "  I  desire  that  you  will  accept  of  a  new 
organ  for  your  cathedral,  being  my  contribution 
as  a  Berkshire  gentleman." 

The  organ  which  the  King's  gift  displaced  was 
built  in  17  lo  by  Renatus  Harris,  and  enclosed  in 
one  of  those  magnificent  cases  for  which  that  builder 
was  renowned.  It  was  40  feet  high,  and  20  feet 
broad  ;  had  three  towers,  two  tiers  of  smaller  pipes 
between  the  towers,  and  a  choir  organ  case  on  the 
side  facing  east.  It  was,  moreover,  remarkable  as 
being  the  first  four-manual  organ  erected  in  England. 

The  building  of  the  new  organ  was  entrusted  to 
Green,  who,  under  royal  patronage,  became  quite  the 
head  of  his  trade  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century, 
being  employed  in  all  parts  of  the  country.^ 

Unfortunately,  instead  of  being  enclosed  in 
Harris's  noble  case,  Green's  organ  was,  upon  com- 
pletion, provided  with  an  entirely  new  one  —  a 
pinnacled  box  in  wretched  pseudo-Gothic,  Harris's 
organ,  case  and  all,  being  sent  to  St  Helen's, 
Abingdon,  where  happily  it  still  remains. 

1  The  organ  in  St  George's  Chapel,  and  the  King's  private 
organ  in  Windsor  Castle  were  built  by  Green  ;  also  those  in 
Canterbury,  Lichfield  and  Rochester  Cathedrals  ;  New  College 
Chapel,  Oxford,  the  Chapel  of  St  Katherine's  Hospital  (formerly 
near  the  tower,  now  at  Regent's  Park) ;  St  Botolph's,  Aldgate, 
and  Sleaford  Church,  Lincolnshire ;  but  in  most  of  these 
instances.  Green's  work  has  entirely  disappeared,  or  has  been 
supplemented  by  that  of  modern  builders. 

L 


i62       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Divine  service  at  Salisbury  seems  to  have  been 
performed  with  more  than  usual  solemnity  and 
decorum  in  anti-Tractarian  days,  as  may  be  gathered 
from  a  communication  by  Miss  Maria  Hackett  to 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine. 

Writing  under  date  30th  July  1830,  this  lady,  whose 
great  object  through  her  long  life  (i783-i874)was  the 
well-being  of  English  cathedral  choristers,  remarks : 

"  Here  at  the  hour  of  prayer  the  Bishop  may 
be  seen  on  his  throne,  the  Dean  at  the  altar, 
the  Canon  in  his  stall ;  a  full  and  efficient  choir 
assembled  before  the  commencement  of  the  exhorta- 
tion, and  remaining  in  their  places  till  after  the 
blessing  has  been  pronounced.  The  service  is 
performed  with  great  solemnity  in  its  most  attractive 
form.  The  altar-table  has  been  judiciously  removed 
from  the  Lady  Chapel  to  its  ancient  situation  at  the 
eastern  extremity  of  the  choir;  but  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  suggest,  that  the  pictorial  effect  might  be 
still  improved  by  elevating  the  altar  a  step  or  two, 
and  arranging  a  crimson  drapery  or  temporary  screen 
behind  it  so  as  to  form  a  rich  and  appropriate 
background  " 

— and  so  on.  The  whole  letter  is  well  worth 
perusal,  couched  as  it  is  in  that  English  of  which 
its  writer  was  a  mistress. 

The  cambric  frills  worn  by  the  Salisbury  choristers 
both  in  and  out  of  the  cathedral,  is  a  pretty 
traditional  feature  in  their  costume. 

"  One  of  the  choristers  is  appointed  Bishop's  '  boy.' 
This  is  an  office  of  great  antiquity,  as  there  are  frequent 
entries  in  the  Capitular  Registers  with  regard  to 
him,  and  in  the  fifteenth  century  the  names  of  some 
of  these  boys  are  recorded.     One  of  the  duties  of  the 


SALISBURY  163 

*  Bishop's  boy '  is  to  ascertain  before  every  service 
whether  the  Bishop  will  be  present  at  the  cathedral, 
and  he  walks  before  the  apparitor,  in  his  surplice,  on 
such  occasions.  He  is  admitted  to  this  office  by  the 
Bishop  in  a  formal  manner.  The  boy  kneels  before 
the  prelate,  who  lays  his  hands  upon  him,  and  says  : — 
'  A.B.  admitto  te  in  Puerum  Episcopi,  in  nomine 
Patris  et  Filii  et  Spiritus  Sancti.     Amen.' "  ^ 

Dickens'  lovers  will  remember  the  delightful  picture 
drawn  by  the  novelist  of  the  city  and  cathedral  in 
the  fifth  chapter  of  "  Martin  Chuzzlewit." 

In  1859  the  true  restoration  of  the  cathedral  began 
under  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  with  a  general  consolidation 
of  the  fabric  externally.  Next,  the  tower  and  spire 
were  carefully  examined,  when  the  walls  of  the  lantern 
were  found  to  be  in  so  dilapidated  and  shattered  a 
condition,  that  the  stability  of  the  tower  for  so  many 
centuries  might,  as  the  architect  himself  said,  "  be 
justly  accounted  a  standing  wonder." 

In  1870  the  restoration  of  the  choir  as  a  memorial 
to  Bishop  Hamilton,  who  had  died  a  year  previously, 
was  undertaken. 

The  drastic  treatment  which  this  part  of  the  church, 
to  say  nothing  of  its  furniture,  had  received  at  the 
hands  of  the  Georgian  men,  necessitated  a  refurnish- 
ing and  decoration  of  a  most  thorough  description, 
entailing  not  only  a  great  expenditure  of  money,  but 
of  time.  The  cost  was  chiefly  defrayed  by  public 
subscription,  though  many  of  the  instrumenta  were 
the  result  of  individual  munificence. 

The  metal  choir-screen,  a  graceful  work  of  Skid- 

^  For  this  information  I  am  indebted  to  an  interesting 
article  on  the  musical  associations  of  Salisbury  Cathedral  by 
Mr  F.  G.  Edwards,  in  the  Musical  Times  of  February  1903. 


i64       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

more,  and  a  set  of  altar  frontals  for  the  several 
seasons  of  the  church,  were  contributed  by  Mrs 
Sidney  Lear.  Miss  Chafyn  Grove  presented  the 
splendid  organ,  one  of  Willis'  noblest  achievements, 
the  eighteenth-century  instrument  by  Green  finding 
a  home  at  St  Thomas'  Church  in  the  city.  The 
bishop's  throne  was  subscribed  for  by  clergymen 
ordained  in  the  cathedral.  The  reredos,  based  on 
studies  of  the  old  choir-screen  and  tomb  of  Bishop 
Bridport,  was  the  gift  of  Earl  Beauchamp ;  Messrs 
Farmer  and  Brindley  were  the  sculptors.  Wyatt's 
miserable  rafacimenio  of  an  altar-piece  in  the  Lady 
Chapel  was  replaced  by  the  present  triptych, 
designed  by  Sir  Arthur  Blomfield,  and  painted  by 
Mr  Buckeridge,  while  to  the  needle  of  Mrs  Weigall 
we  owe  that  exquisite  altar-frontal  representing  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  Child  adored  by  angels,  carried 
out  from  the  designs  of  Mr  Gambier  Parry. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  work  was  the  restora- 
tion of  colour  to  the  roofs  of  the  Lady  Chapel  and 
choir.  The  latter,  as  was  always  known,  was 
decorated  with  medallions  containing  busts  of 
prophets,  which  had  been  visible  until  the  time  of 
Wyatt,  who  coated  them  with  a  yellow  wash,  but  not 
so  completely  that  they  could  be  seen  dimly  looming 
through  it. 

Under  Scott's  direction  this  wash  was  removed, 
and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  paintings,  together 
with  their  accompanying  legends,  brought  to  light 
by  Messrs  Clayton  and  Bell,  who  cannot,  however, 
be  complimented  upon  certain  pigments,  a  vivid 
green  being  particularly  unpleasant.  At  the  crossing, 
Our  Lord  is  represented  seated  in  Majesty  with  the 


SALISBURY  165 

Apostles  and  Evangelists.  Prophets  in  medallions 
occupy  the  choir  roof  west  of  the  crossing,  and  the 
employments  proper  to  the  several  months,  that  of 
the  presbytery  or  three  bays  eastward. 

It  was  while  this  work  was  in  progress  that  an 
interesting  correspondence  arose  respecting  the  true 
position  of  the  high  altar  in  the  cathedral.  It  was 
started  by  Rev.  T.  H.  Armfield,  whose  theory  was, 
that,  from  the  falling  off  in  dignity  of  the  roof 
decoration  eastward  of  the  choir  transept,  the  altar 
stood  under  the  painting  of  the  Majesty  at  the 
junction  of  the  four  arms. 

So  many  arguments  for  the  received  position — 
viz.,  within  the  central  arch  of  the  three  dividing 
the  choir  from  the  Lady  Chapel — were  forthcoming, 
that  the  contrary  ones  were  outweighed,  though 
the  difficulties  which  they  suggest  have  never  been 
fully  explained. 

Restored  and  arranged  as  we  now  see  it,  the  choir 
of  Salisbury  Cathedral  was  reopened  on  All  Saints' 
Day,  1st  November  1876,  after  several  years  of  disuse. 
In  the  following  year  the  western  portions  of  the 
building  were  cleansed  of  their  yellow  wash,  and 
the  noble  north  porch  was  quietly  yet  admirably 
restored,  shortly  before  his  death,  by  Mr  G.  E.  Street, 
who  had  a  particular  affection  for  this  most  graceful, 
if  not  altogether  most  interesting,  of  our  cathedrals. 


CHAPTER  VI 


WORCESTER 


The  cathedral  forming  the  subject  of  our  present 
sketch  is  one  of  the  New  Foundation ;  that  is  to 
say,  it  had  been  served  by  monks  until  its  recon- 
stitution  with  secular  canons  by  Henry  VIH.  upon 
the  dissolution  of  the  Benedictine  house,  of  which 
it  formed  the  imposing  church. 

It  is  built  in  the  form  of  a  patriarchal  cross, 
without  aisles  to  its  principal  transept,  but  with 
that  secondary  or  eastern  transept  which,  borrowed 
from  the  now  demolished  abbey  church  of  Clugny, 
had  made  its  debUt  in  England,  at  Canterbury 
under  Conrad.  But  in  spite  of  this  relief  to  its  elon- 
gated Early  English  choir,  and  the  dignity  conferred 
upon  it  by  the  imposing  central  tower,  Worcester 
Cathedral  can  hardly  be  said  to  impress  the  visitor 
as  he  approaches  it  from  the  High  Street,  being 
somewhat  cold  and  ineffective.  This,  however,  is 
in  some  degree  attributable  to  the  drastic  nature 
of  the  repairs  carried   out  on  the  exterior  between 


WORCESTER  167 

1857  and  1867,  and  which  were  doubtless  necessitated 
by  the  terrible  "  settings  to  rights  "  the  structure  had 
undergone  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  in  its  palmiest 
days  Worcester  Cathedral  ever  presented  a  really 
picturesque  ensemble.  The  best  view  obtainable  is 
from  the  south-west,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
Severn,  whence  the  various  parts,  scaled  by  the 
remains  of  the  monastic  buildings  and  the  prebendal 
houses,  group  very  pleasingly. 

Interiorly,  now  that  much  of  the  newness  con- 
sequent upon  the  restorations  completed  in  1874 
has  worn  off,  this  cathedral  may  be  pronounced  one 
of  the  most  graceful  and  beautiful  in  England.  I 
saw  it  for  the  first  time  twenty-five  years  ago  on  a 
brilliant  May  morning.  It  was  Tuesday  in  Whitsun 
week,  and  Matins  being  succeeded  by  a  choral 
celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion,  the  Offices 
occupied  a  longer  time  than  usual.  The  service, 
I  recollect,  was  that  favourite  one  of  the  late  Sir 
Joseph  Barnby  in  E,  and  seated  as  I  was  almost 
at  the  western  extremity  of  the  nave,  the  beauty 
of  the  architecture  was  materially  enhanced  by  the 
music  in  the  distant  choir,  and  the  whole  left  an 
impression  that  has  not  since  been  effaced  from  the 
tablets  of  memory. 

As  it  stands,  Worcester  Cathedral  is  mainly  the 
work  of  three  periods  of  architecture — Early  English, 
Decorated  and  Perpendicular,  though  fragments 
of  preceding  churches  are  considerably  in  evidence 
here  and  there.  In  the  solemn  crypt  we  have  no 
doubt  a  portion  of  that  edifice  begun  on  the  site 
pf  an  earlier  one  in    1084  by    St  Wulfstan,  who 


i68       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

although  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  first  two 
Norman  kings  to  deprive  him  of  it,  was  left  in 
peaceful  possession  of  the  See  to  which  he  had  been 
appointed  four  years  before  the  Conquest.  On  the 
day  that  Wulfstan  began  the  work  of  rebuilding 
the  tenth-century  church  of  St  Oswald,  he  was 
observed  by  one  of  his  monks  standing  in  silent 
sadness  in  the  corner  of  the  cemetery.  The  monk 
expostulated  with  him :  "  Surely,"  he  said,  "  you 
ought  rather  to  rejoice  that  such  things  can  be 
done  for  your  church  in  your  time ;  that  buildings 
are  now  erected  in  a  style  of  beauty  and  splendour 
unknown  to  our  fathers."  "  I  judge  differently," 
said  Wulfstan  ;  "  we  are  pulling  down  the  labours  of 
holy  men,  that  we  may  gain  honour  and  reputation 
to  ourselves.  The  good  old  time  was,  when  men 
knew  not  how  to  build  magnificent  piles,  but 
thought  any  roof  good  enough,  if  under  it  they 
could  offer  themselves  a  willing  sacrifice  to  God. 
It  is  a  miserable  change  if  we  neglect  the  souls  of 
men,  and  pile  together  stones." 

Wulfstan's  building  had,  as  was  customary  at  that 
epoch,  a  choir,  which  terminated  a  little  to  the  east 
of  King  John's  tomb  in  an  apse,  and  a  visit  to  the 
Cordova-like  crypt,  with  its  apparent  forest  of 
columns,  will  prove  that  that  apse  had  an  aisle 
carried  round  it. 

A  succession  of  accidents  in  the  shape  of  storms 
and  fires  befell  this  Norman  cathedral  at  Worcester, 
the  last  occurring  in  1202,  after  which  it  was  almost 
entirely  rebuilt.  King  John,  who  visited  the  city  in 
1208,  contributed  three  hundred  marks  for  the  repair 
of  this  building,  which  was  in  all  probability  one  of 


WORCESTER  169 

late  Norman  character ;  but  as  all  traces  of  its 
structure,  with  the  exception  of  some  fragments 
still  lurking  here  and  there,  disappeared  during 
successive  rebuildings  in  the  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth centuries,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  with 
confidence  on  the  subject.  Two  late  twelfth-century 
bays  still  exist  at  the  west  end  of  the  nave,  but  it 
is  most  probable  that  they  formed  an  extension 
of  the  Norman  one,  and  can  hardly  be  accepted 
as  a  key  to  the  whole. 

Nine  years  after  his  visit  to  Worcester  the  very 
unsaintly  Lackland  died,  and  in  accordance  with 
his  own  wish,  was  buried  immediately  in  front  of 
the  high  altar  between  the  shrines  of  the  sainted 
bishops  Oswald  and  Wulfstan,  "  that,"  says  the 
chronicler,  "  the  saying  of  Merlin  might  be  verified, 
*he  shall  be  placed  between  the  saints.'" 

The  obsequies  of  King  John  were  performed  by 
Bishop  Sylvester,  who  in  121 8  dedicated  the  restored 
cathedral  in  the  presence  of  Henry  III.  and  the 
bishops  of  Winchester,  Salisbury,  Hereford,  Chichester, 
London,  Norwich,  St  David's,  Llandaff,  St  Asaph 
and  Bangor,  of  abbots  and  priors  from  all  parts  of 
the  kingdom  and  many  nobles,  the  event  being 
thus  recorded  in  the  "Anglia  Sacra":  "Eccles.  Cath. 
Wygornensis  dedicata  est  VII  Id.  Junii  in  honore 
S.  Mariae  et  B.  Petri  et  S.  Oswaldi  et  Wistani, 
magnum  Altare  in  honore  S.  Mariae  et  Oswaldi, 
et  medium  in  honore  S.  Petri  et  Wistani." 

Only  six  years  later  we  glean  the  following  entry 
from  the  same  invaluable  source : — "  Inceptum  novum 
opus  frontis  Wigorn.  Ecclesiae  Episcopo  Willelmo 
Jaciente  fundamentum."     The  "  novum  opus  frontis  " 


I70       CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

referred  to  is  the  east  end  of  the  choir,  and  the 
'Episcopo  Willelmo,"  the  then  bishop,  William  of 
Blois,  it  having  been  determined  to  rebuild  the 
old  Norman  choir  on  a  greatly  extended  plan, 
commencing  with  the  three  bays  beyond  the  present 
eastern  transept,  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the 
offices  which  still  continued  to  be  performed  in 
the  old  choir. 

As  I  have  already  pointed  out  in  previous  chapters, 
the  eastern  limb  of  a  Norman  cathedral  or  monastic 
church  was  in  most  cases  short,  existing  arrange- 
ments not  rendering  any  considerable  space  at  the 
east  end  necessary. 

At  Worcester,  the  area  under  the  tower  was 
sufficient  for  the  stalls  of  the  monks,  wherein  the 
ordinary  Chapter  offices  were  recited,  while  the  four 
bays  that  intervened  between  the  tower  and  the  apse 
afforded  abundant  space  for  the  imposing  ceremonial 
of  the  Mass.  This  portion  of  the  choir,  strictly  termed 
the  Presbytery — the  choir  proper  being,  as  I  have  said, 
under  the  tower — was  co-extensive  at  Worcester  with 
the  present  choir  as  far  as  its  meeting  with  the 
eastern  transept.  Below  ground,  its  extent  will  be 
found  to  coincide  with  that  of  the  Norman  crypt. 
On  either  side,  but  a  little  in  advance  of  the  high 
altar,  stood  the  shrines  of  St  Oswald  and  St  Wulfstan, 
whose  relics  the  church  of  Worcester  had  the  good 
fortune  to  possess.  But  as  years  rolled  on,  these 
hallowed  treasures  increased  in  attractiveness. 

The  tombs  of  the  two  departed  saints  became  the 
accredited  centres  of  miraculous  agencies,  and  drew 
to  themselves  ever-increasing  crowds  of  votaries, 
desiring   not    only   an    interest   in    the    holy   men'? 


WORCESTER  171 

intercessions,  but  still  more,  a  share  in  the  physical 
benefits  of  which  their  remains  were  supposed  to  be 
the  divinely  appointed  channels  to  suffering  humanity. 
To  accommodate  these  vast  throngs,  as  well  as  to  give 
due  honour  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  whose  cult  may  be 
said  to  have  received  a  great  impetus  early  in  the 
thirteenth  century  under  the  pontificate  of  Innocent 
III.,  a  greatly  extended  eastern  limb  was  necessary; 
and  not  only  at  Worcester,  but  in  one  great  cathedral 
after  another  do  we  find  the  same  process  of  eastern 
extension  gone  through,  and  for  the  accomplishment 
of  one  or  other  of  the  combined  objects.  The  several 
modes  in  which  this  eastern  elongation  has  been 
carried  out,  open  up  an  enquiry  of  considerable 
interest  in  connection  with  the  new  direction  taken 
by  popular  religious  feeling  at  this  epoch.  At 
Lichfield,  where  St  Mary  divided  the  honours  with 
St  Chad ;  at  Lincoln,  where  the  eastern  extension 
was  shared  by  her  with  St  Hugh  ;  at  Worcester,  by 
Saints  Oswald  and  Wulfstan  ;  and  at  York  by  St 
William,  the  extension  was  carried  on  beneath  the 
same  line  of  roof.  But  at  Chester,  Chichester,  Exeter, 
Hereford,  St  Alban's,  St  David's,  Salisbury ,1  Wells, 
and  Winchester,  where  local  rivalry  was  not  so  strong, 
the  Lady  Chapel  stretches  out  beyond  the  main 
choir  at  a  much  lower  level,  the  manner  in  which  the 
junction  of  the  two  members  has  been  effected  being, 
in  most  cases,  singularly  picturesque,  and  consum- 
mately skilful. 

The  position  of  the  Lady  Chapel  at  the  east  end  of 
an  English  cathedral  although  general,  is  not  universal, 

^  At  Salisbury  the  altar  of  the  Virgin  was,  however,  associated 
frith  St  Osmund. 


172       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

precedence  being  given  in  certain  instances  to  local 
objects  of  devotion  by  the  religious  who  knew  so  well 
how  to  gauge  the  popular  feeling,  and  whose  zealous 
rivalry  for  the  increased  splendour  of  their  own 
churches  led  them  to  give  the  preference  to  that  form 
of  devotion  which  would  be  likely  to  yield  the  largest 
amount  of  offerings.  Thus,  at  Ely,  where  the  magni- 
ficent presbytery  of  Bishop  Northwold  formed  a 
casket  to  the  shrine  of  St  Etheldreda,  we  have  that 
glorious  Lady  Chapel,  now  styled  Trinity  Church, 
forming  a  distinct  building  on  the  north  side  of  the 
choir. 

At  Rochester,  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  was 
excelled  by  that  paid  to  St  William  of  Perth.  Here 
the  south  transept  formed  the  Lady  Chapel,  which 
in  the  fifteenth  century  was  much  enlarged  by  that 
poor  Late  Perpendicular  building  which  opens  out  of 
the  south  aisle  of  the  nave.  At  Ripon,  where  the 
shrine  of  St  Wilfred  was  the  great  object  of  attrac- 
tion, a  Decorated  upper  storey,  known  as  the  Lady 
Loft,  and  added  to  the  Norman  Chapter-house, 
constituted  the  Lady  Chapel.  At  Durham,  it  was 
formed  in  the  Galilee  at  the  extreme  west  end  of 
the  cathedral,  after  Bishop  Pudsey's  futile  attempt  to 
establish  one  behind  the  spot  sacred  to  St  Cuthbert 
at  the  opposite  end.  At  Peterborough  it  was,  and  at 
Bristol  the  Lady  Chapel  still  is,  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  north  transept,  and  at  Oxford  it  was  built  towards 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  as  an  additional 
aisle  on  the  north  side  of  the  choir,  the  city  wall 
precluding  any  extension  of  that  limb  eastward. 

To  return,  however,  from  this  lengthy  digression  to 
the  subject  of  our  present  chapter. 


WORCESTER  173 

Contemporaneous  as  it  is  with  the  highest  develop- 
ments of  mediaeval  architecture,  in  which  among 
many  other  forms  "the  fresh  exuberant  life,  the 
daring  and  devotion  of  the  age,  found  one  means  of 
expression,"  this  grandly  expanded  choir  of  Worcester 
may  be  said  to  take  up  ground  intermediate  between 
St  Hugh's  work  in  the  choir  proper  at  Lincoln,  and 
that  in  the  "  Angel  Choir  "  of  the  same  cathedral. 

Thoroughly  English  both  in  plan  and  detail,  it 
will  never  cease  to  command  our  admiration  and 
delight,  much  of  its  beauty  and  richness  being  due 
to  the  profits  derived  from  the  offerings  of  the  faith- 
ful at  the  tomb  and  shrine  of  St  Wulfstan,  whose 
reputation  as  a  worker  of  miracles  increased  after  his 
canonisation  in  1203. 

The  Norman  crypt,  it  will  be  remembered,  is  co- 
extensive with  the  choir  only  as  far  as  the  eastern 
transept,  for  the  ritualistic  use  of  the  crypt  having 
ceased  before  Bishop  William  of  Blois  began  his 
new  work  at  the  east  end  in  1224,  no  further  exten- 
sion was  made  to  it.  The  result  is  that  the  pavement 
of  the  eastern  transept  and  Lady  Chapel  being  on 
the  same  level  as  that  part  of  the  church  westward 
of  the  central  tower,  the  groups  of  clustered  shafts 
forming  the  columns  that  support  the  arches  of  the 
three  easternmost  bays  are  several  feet  taller  than 
those  in  the  choir  itself.  The  triforium  and  clerestory 
throughout  this  part  of  the  cathedral  are,  however, 
uniform  in  height,  the  string-courses  dividing  them 
being  all  kept  at  the  same  level. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  choir  of  Worcester  Cathedral 
is  most  graceful,  but  the  full  beauty  of  its  Early 
English  work  is   not  realised   until  we  descend  the 


174       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

steps  leading  from  the  aisles  into  the  eastern 
transepts  and  three-bayed  Lady  Chapel,  where, 
from  the  reason  which  I  have  endeavoured  to 
make  clear,  the  elevation  assumes  a  much  more 
elance  character.  There  is  one  feature  here  which 
imparts  an  air  of  unusual  richness  allied  with 
stability  to  the  whole,  and  that  is  the  triforium.  In 
most  English  Gothic  buildings  this  story  is  open, 
showing  the  rough  lean-to  roofs  of  the  aisles.  At 
Worcester,  on  the  contrary,  this  is  not  the  case,  the 
arcades  having  a  wall  behind  them  enriched  with 
lancets  on  slender  shafts,  just  sufficient  room  being 
left  between  to  form  a  passage. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  whole  of  the 
east  end,  with  its  two  tiers  of  lancet  windows,  is 
modern.  During  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries,  the  fenestration  of  the  church  seems  to 
have  undergone  great  alterations,  the  east  end  being 
endowed  with  one  large  window,  the  form  of  whose 
tracery  can  only  be  guessed  at  since  the  frame  was 
filled  with  work  of  a  spurious  character  in  1789. 
When  Mr  Perkins  came  to  work  upon  the  cathedral 
nearly  fifty  years  ago,  he  removed  this  window 
altogether,  replacing  it  with  that  double  tier  of 
lancets  we  now  see — somewhat  painfully  configured 
after  the  large  existing  store  of  Early  English  work 
in  the  cathedral,  and  externally,  at  least,  indescrib- 
ably yet  undeniably  flat  and  spiritless.  Internally, 
however,  with  its  dark  marble  shafts,  sculptured 
i^^oups  in  the  spandrels,  and  that  mosaic  glass  by 
Hardman,  which  formed  so  conspicuous  a  feature 
in  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1862,  the  eastern  eleva- 
tion of  the  choir  of  Worcester  Cathedral  suflficiently 


WORCESTER  175 

passes  muster,  and  reproducing,  as  it  most  probably 
does,  the  original  one  of  William  de  Blois,  forms 
a  remarkably  happy  termination  to  the  vista  from 
the  west  end.  Still,  an  architect  of  genius  would 
have  grappled  more  boldly  with  the  question,  and, 
instead  of  treating  the  restoration  as  a  mere  archaeo- 
logical reproduction,  would  have  regarded  it  as  a 
work  of  art  for  all  time.  Worcester  Cathedral  is 
not  so  uniform  in  style  as  to  demand  an  Early 
English  east  window ;  and  even  the  rich  arcades 
of  the  triforium  would  better  contrast  with  a  window 
of  the  Geometrical  Decorated  period.  The  styles  of 
the  Middle  Ages  were  constantly  varying  to  suit 
the  altering  requirements  of  the  times,  and  the  best 
way  to  emulate  their  genius  is  to  remember  that  we 
too  have  certain  wants  to  supply.  Mr  Perkins- 
therefore,  would  have  violated  no  canon  of  archi- 
tectural taste  had  he  given  the  Early  English  Lady 
Chapel  a  nobly-traceried  window  of  a  later  period. 

The  next  great  work  undertaken  at  Worcester 
was  the  reconstruction  of  the  Norman  nave,  which, 
from  such  portions  still  extant  as  shafts  and  capitals, 
and  a  series  of  arched  recesses  in  the  south  aisle, 
would  appear  to  have  belonged  to  the  first  three- 
quarters  of  the  twelfth  century.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  same  century  the  two  present  western  bays 
were  built,  but  whether  in  place  of  others  that  had 
been  destroyed  by  accident,  or  as  an  extension  of 
the  Norman  nave,  does  not  seem  very  clear.  These 
two  bays  are  most  curious  and  valuable  specimens 
of  Transitional  work,  their  arcades  opening  to  the 
aisles  having  slender  shafts  with  capitals  just  indica- 
ting the  approach  of  foliage,  and  pointed  arches  very 


176       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

simply  moulded.  The  triforium  stage,  which  is  very 
lofty,  comprises  three  narrow  compartments  with 
arches  composed  entirely  of  zigzag  ornament  united 
beneath  one  pointed  arch,  and  very  closely  walled 
up  behind ;  while  in  the  clerestory  is  one  wider 
round-arched  opening  having  a  lesser  pointed  one 
on  either  side  of  it.  Of  the  remaining  seven  bays 
of  the  nave,  those  on  the  north  side  are  the  best. 
They  are  Decorated,  and  date  from  the  episcopate 
of  Bishop  Cobham  (1317-27),  the  columns  being  com- 
posed of  a  number  of  slender  shafts  with  capitals 
of  deeply  under-cut  leafage,  running  wreath-like 
round  the  pier,  and  recalling  in  ensemble  those  in 
the  contemporary  nave  of  the  cathedral  of  Troyes 
in  Champagne. 

The  southern  arcade  was  not  begun  until  about 
1360,  and  a  deterioration  in  the  work  here  is 
perceptible,  the  shafts  being  taller,  fewer  and  more 
slender,  and  the  foliaging  being  confined  to  their 
capitals.  For  grace  and  richness,  the  northern 
arcade  of  the  nave  at  Worcester  is,  I  think,  un- 
surpassed by  any  contemporary  work  of  the  kind, 
and  a  particularly  fine  view  is  obtainable  of  it  from 
the  south-western  pier  of  the  tower.  Both  these 
Decorated  sides  of  the  nave  are,  as  regards  their 
arcades,  a  little  loftier  than  the  Transitional  ones  to 
the  west  of  them,  but  the  triforium  and  clerestory 
of  the  two  portions  are  kept  parallel  by  the  string- 
course separating  them.  The  triforium  is  a  singularly 
prominent  feature  in  the  Decorated  portion  of  the  nave 
at  Worcester.  Singularly,  because  in  other  cathedrals 
of  the  period,  as  for  instance  at  Exeter,  where  it  is 
reduced  to  a  mere  gallery,  and  at  York,  where  it  is 


WORCESTER  177 

combined  with  the  clerestory,  it  becomes  quite 
a  subordinate  member  in  the  elevation.  But  while 
dignified,  the  nave-triforium  at  Worcester  is  remark- 
ably simple  when  compared  with  such  a  contemporary 
one  as  that  by  Bishop  Hotham  at  Ely.  Indeed,  as 
regards  enrichment,  it  is  far  more  reticent  than  the 
Early  English  triforium  in  the  choir,  which  to  some 
extent  it  resembles  in  arrangement,  and  in  the  manner 
in  which  its  uncusped  arcades  are  walled  up  behind 
with  the  intervention  only  of  a  narrow  passage. 
Richness  appears  to  have  been  sought  by  the  intro- 
duction into  the  tympana  of  the  main  arches,  of 
small  sculptured  figures,  once  much  mutilated,  but 
now  restored.  In  the  clerestory,  the  Late  Decorated 
arrangement  of  the  arcades  follows  that  of  the 
transitional  bays  very  closely,  the  tall  central  one 
through  which  the  window  appears  having  a  some- 
what depressed  head.  The  nave  was  groined  in 
1377  by  Bishop  Wakefield  throughout;  but  while 
fortunately  sparing  us  the  two  Transitional  western 
bays,  he  entirely  altered  the  front,  blocking  up  the 
central  doorway,  and  substituting  a  window,  probably 
of  Early  Perpendicular  character,  for  the  twelfth- 
century  ones.  But  all  traces  of  Wakefield's  window 
have  been  lost,  as  it  was  replaced  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century  by  a  debased  one, 
which  in  its  turn  gave  way  to  the  present  Early 
Decorated  composition.  The  stately  porch  which 
opens  out  of  the  north  aisle  exactly  in  its  centre,  is 
also  due  to  Bishop  Wakefield.  The  restored  statuary 
is  a  work  of  our  own  day.  From  the  next  bay  but 
one  projects  a  small  Late  Decorated  chapel.  It  is 
styled  the  Jesus  Chapel,  and  until  1899  formed  the 

M 


178       CATHEDRALS   OF  ENGLAND 

baptistery ;  but  the  font,  a  nondescript  affair  of  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  has  since  been 
replaced  by  one  of  Late  Decorated  character,  and 
equipped  with  a  spiral  canopy  after  the  model  of 
the  celebrated  one  at  Ufford,  near  Woodbridge.  It 
is  stationed  at  the  west  end  of  the  south  aisle,  where 
it  looks  remarkably  well.  Now  the  Jesus  Chapel  is 
separated  from  the  aisle  by  a  lofty  stone  screen 
supporting  the  rood  and  attendant  figures,  and  is 
furnished  with  an  altar,  above  which  is  a  wooden 
retabulum  of  five  openings,  an  almost  life-size  figure 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Child  occupying  the  centre, 
and  small  scenes  from  the  Life  of  Christ,  the  sides. 
This  graceful  piece  of  work  is  due  to  Mr  Martin  of 
Cheltenham,  and,  as  well  as  the  stone  screen,  is  from 
the  designs  of  Mr  R.  A.  Briggs,  F.R.I.B.A. 

The  stained  glass  in  the  northern  window  of  this 
chapel,  by  Wailes,  has  been  in  position  for  more 
than  half  a  century,  and  although  not  of  the  highest 
order  imparts  solemnity  to  what  is  now  one  of  the 
most  charming  bits  in  the  cathedral.  Of  ancient 
stained  glass,  there  are  a  few  remains  in  the  second, 
fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  windows  of  the  south  aisle. 
The  cores  of  the  piers  supporting  the  tower  are 
Norman,  veiled  in  Late  Decorated  work,  the  slender 
shafts  from  which  the  four  great  arches  rise  being 
similar  in  character  to  those  on  the  south  side  of 
the  nave. 

Standing  exactly  in  the  centre  of  the  church  the 
tower  of  Worcester  Cathedral,  completed  in  1374,  is 
a  noble  object,  despite  the  flaying  process  it  has 
undergone  at  various  times  within  the  last  two 
centuries.     Of  the  statues  with  which  it  was  originally 


WORCESTER  179 

enriched,  but  six  remain,  the  rest  being  works  of  the 
period  comprised  between  i860  and  1870,  as  are  the 
parapet  and  pinnacles,  which  replace  others  familiar 
to  us  in  old  views  of  the  cathedral,  but  dating  only 
from  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  as 
Browne  Willis  informs  us  in  his  "  Cathedrals,"  vol.  i. 
p.  628.  In  1873  a  magnificent  peal  of  twelve  bells, 
each  bearing  upon  the  waist  the  name  of  an  apostle, 
and  cast  by  Taylor  of  Loughborough,  was  placed  in  the 
tower  mainly  through  the  exertions  of  Canon  Cattley.* 
The  largest  bell,  Peter  (in  the  key  of  D  flat),  weighs 
50  cwt. ;  the  smallest,  Matthias  (in  the  key  of  A  flat), 
6  cwt  3  qrs.  19  lbs. 

In  addition  to  these,  a  new  great  hour  bell,  whose 
key  is  D  flat,  and  which  weighs  90  cwt.,  was  provided  ; 
also  a  set  of  chimes,  which  play  every  third  hour, 
thereby  adding  greatly  to  the  cheerfulness  of  the  city, 
but  a  stricter  ecclesiastical  feeling  might  have  been 
shown  in  the  selection  of  melodies. 

Until  the  raising  of  the  tower  in  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  the  bells  were  lodged  in  the 
clochium,  an  octagonal  mass  of  stone-work,  10  feet 
thick,  60  feet  high,  and  60  feet  in  diameter  at 
the  base. 

It  dated,  in  all  probability,  from  the  time  of  the 
rebuilding  of  the  cathedral  at  the  close  of  the 
eleventh  century,  was  surmounted  by  a   lead   spire 

*  The  old  bells  were  then  expatriated,  three  being  given  to 
churches  in  the  diocese,  four  finding  their  way  into  private 
hands,  and  one  being  stolen  during  the  restoration  of  the  tower. 
They  were  probably  not  anterior  to  the  seventeenth  century, 
replacing  the  mediaeval  ones  banished  in  1559  under  Bishop 
Hooper.  On  the  completion  of  the  great  tower  only  one  bell 
was  hung  in  it,  the  rest  remaining  in  the  dochium. 


i8o       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

rising  fifty  yards  above  the  stone  structure,  and  was 
placed  so  close  to  the  north-eastern  transept,  that 
there  was  only  space  between  for  processions.  This 
clochium,  which,  from  the  account  left  to  us  of  it 
in  his  "Observations  on  Worcestershire,"  by  one 
Nathaniel  Tomkins,  appears  to  have  been  a  structure 
of  no  ordinary  importance,  survived  the  loss  of  its 
bells  two  hundred  and  seventy-three  years,  being 
pulled  down  in  1647,  and  the  materials  disposed 
of  for  £617,  4s.  2d.,  the  principal  part  of  which 
was  given  to  repair  several  churches  in  the  county, 
damaged  in  the  Civil  Wars. 

The  transepts,  which  project  but  one  bay  beyond 
the  line  of  the  aisles,  still  retain  a  good  deal  of 
Norman  work  in  the  lower  stages  of  their  walls, 
but  they  have  undergone  changes  both  as  regards 
their  fenestration  and  vaulting  at  different  periods, 
the  latter  dating  most  probably  from  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  presence  of  a  Norman  arch 
in  the  eastern  wall  of  either  transept  points  to  the 
supposition  that  Wulfstan's  church  was  parallel- 
triapsidal,  but  both  these  apses  have  long  since 
disappeared.  The  arch  communicating  with  the 
northern  apse  still  remains  embedded  in  the  wall, 
while  the  southern  one  was  reopened  in  1862  into 
the  Early  English  chapel  of  St  John,  coincident  with 
the  first  two  bays  of  the  choir  aisle  on  that  side. 
In  the  staircase  turret  which  projects  with  singular 
prominence  into  the  northern  transept  at  its  north- 
west angle,  the  North-Italian  effect  produced  by  the 
employment  of  cream-coloured  and  green  stones  is 
very  noticeable  ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  plaster  was 
stripped  from  the  walls  during  Mr  Perkins'  restora- 


WORCESTER  i8i 

tion  of  this  part  of  the  church  forty  years  ago,  that 
this  charming  piece  of  natural  polychromy  came  to 
light. 

From  the  south  transept  we  enter  the  crypt,  a 
relic  of  St  Wulfstan's  church,  and  wonderfully  perfect 
in  its  design  and  preservation,  the  unique  and 
beautiful  arrangement  of  the  Norman  arcades  and 
vaulting  of  its  apsidal  east  end  presenting  some 
curious  analogies  with,  and  probably  giving  the  idea 
for,  the  vaulting  of  Chapter-houses  with  central 
columns  which  became  so  beautiful  and  distinctive 
a  feature  of  English  cathedral  buildings.  One 
peculiarity  in  the  vaulting  of  this  crypt  at  Worcester 
— the  second  in  order  of  date  of  the  four  Norman 
apsidal  ones^ — is  that  the  ribs  visible  beneath  are 
formed  in  plaster  over  rough  cores  left  purposely 
on  the  masonry  to  receive  the  arch.  The  division 
of  this  crypt  into  four  aisles  is  productive  of  some 
of  the  most  delightful  combinations  of  cushion- 
capped  pillars,  semicircular  arches,  and  pointed  vaults, 
and  in  certain  features  recalls  those  more  elevated 
sub-structures  in  Germany,  which  give  an  air  of 
picturesqueness  to  such  interiors  as  Brunswick, 
Naumburg,  Paderborn  and  Quedlinburg. 

Students  of  the  precincts  of  a  New  Foundation 
cathedral  will  find  much  to  interest  them  in  the 
southern  entourages  of  Worcester :  as,  for  instance, 
in  the  refectory,  now  the  King's  School :  the  Guesten 
Hall,  alas !  ruined  only  within  the  last  half  century  ; 
and  the  imposing  Late  Gothic  gateway  through 
which  the   Close — "the  boundaries"  of  Mrs  Henry 

^  The  others  are,  Winchester  (1079),  Gloucester  (1089),  and 
Canterbury  (1096). 


i82       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

Wood's  "  Helstonleigh  "  ^ — is  entered  from  the  eastern 
part  of  the  city.     Connecting  these  interesting  relics 
of  the  monastery  with  the  church,  are  large,  but  not 
particularly  picturesque  Perpendicular  cloisters,  whose 
lierne  vaulting,  enriched  with   bosses  of  figures  and 
foliage,  is  excellent.     The  framework  of  the  windows 
giving  on   to   the   garth  is  modern,  replacing  some 
inferior  work    of   the    eighteenth   century.     In   the 
richly  quatre-foiled  splay  of  each  window  may  be 
seen  a  squinch,  introduced  as  a  means  of  communica- 
tion for  the  monks,  as  they  wrote  or  studied,  without 
their  being  obliged   to  leave  their  places ;  all  were 
isolated,   and   yet  in  a  moment  any  monk  had  the 
power  of  gaining  any  information  he  might  require 
from  any  of  his  companions  as  he  sat  at  work.     The 
monks'    and    the    prior's    doors    may   still    be    seen 
at   the   west    and   east  ends   of  the  northern   walk, 
respectively.      Here   is   the   lavatory   of  the   monks. 
The  slype,  a  narrow  passage  running  alongside  the 
first    two    bays    of    the    nave,   affords   a   means   of 
communication  between  the  cloisters  and  the  ground 
at  the  west  end  of  the  cathedral.     The  entrance  to 
the    cloisters    from    College    Green    is    by  a    Late 
Norman   door,  richly   moulded,  an    springing   from 
four  receding  shafts.     No  one  should  overlook  this 
entrance,  it  is  quite  one  of  the  gems  of  the  cathedral, 
and  forms  a  specimen  of  that  refinement  to  which 
the  Anglo-Norman  style  had  been  brought  towards 
the   middle  of  the   twelfth  century,  in   this  part  of 
the  country. 

*  Worcester  is  the  "  Helstonleigh "  of  several  of  this  lady's 
novels,  notably  the  "  Channings,"  its  sequel  '*  Roland  Yorke," 
and  "  Mrs  Halliburton's  Troubles." 


WORCESTER  183 

There  is  another  and  narrower  slype  between  the 
south  transept  and  the  Chapter-house,  which  is 
entered  from  the  eastern  walk  of  the  cloisters.  This 
was  originally  a  circular  Norman  structure,  which, 
becoming  ruinous  from  the  thrust  of  the  vaulting,  was 
altered,  and  given  an  octagonal  plan  externally  by 
an  architect  of  the  Perpendicular  period.  He  went 
to  work  in  a  particularly  scientific  manner,  casing  it 
externally  with  other  ashlar,  and  building  project- 
ing buttresses  at  the  angles,  adding  windows  and 
vaulting  in  the  style  of  his  period,  but  preserving 
the  internal  Norman  wall,  central  column,  and  part 
of  the  original  vault.  The  walls  behind  the  inter- 
lacing arcades  under  the  windows  are  constructed 
in  an  elaborate  polychromatic  treatment  of  masonry 
in  green  and  white  freestone,  which  is  almost  unique 
in  this  country,  and  certainly  unequalled  by  any 
extant  examples  of  such  class  of  so  early  a  date. 

An  ingenious  theory  has  been  propounded  that  the 
elongated  form  of  Chapter-house  found  at  Bristol, 
Canterbury,  Chester,  Durham,  Gloucester,  Oxford,  and 
whilom  at  Ely,  was  that  adopted  in  churches  built 
and  served  by  those  religious  communities  whose 
daily  obligation  it  was  to  enforce  a  rigid  observance 
of  discipline  within  their  walls,  this  being  the  form 
best  adapted  to  all  acts  of  a  judicial  nature  ;  while 
the  polygonal  shape  as  seen  at  Lichfield,  Lincoln, 
Salisbury,  Southwell,  Wells,  and  York  was  preferred 
by  chapters  of  seculars,  because  their  meetings  par- 
took chiefly  of  the  character  of  synods  or  admini- 
strative councils,  and  consequently,  a  form  which 
brought  every  assistant  within  a  certain  focus,  was 
most  suitable  for  all  deliberative  assemblies.      But 


i84       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

the  simple  fact  that  the  Chapter-houses  of  Worcester 
and  Westminster/  both  Benedictine  monasteries,  are, 
the  one  circular,  and  the  other  octagonal,  answers 
this  hypothesis.  I  believe  the  simple  fact  to  be 
that  the  oblong  form  was  the  original  Norman  one 
perpetuated  in  English  times,  and,  fitting  as  it  did 
into  the  space  formed  by  the  transept  and  the 
eastern  walk  of  the  cloister,  was  adopted  as  a  matter 
of  convenience.  The  polygonal  shape  was  a  beautiful 
and  purely  English  conception  of  the  later  thirteenth- 
century  architects,  of  which  the  earliest  example 
occurs  at  Lincoln,  though  we  may  consider  this 
circular  one  at  Worcester  the  parent  of  that  shape 
which  afterwards  became  so  general. 

The  work  of  restoring  Worcester  Cathedral  was 
begun  half  a  century  ago  during  the  time  of  Dean 
Peel  (1846-74)  under  Mr  A.  E.  Perkins,  a  pupil  of 
Rickman,  and  was  carried  on  almost  without  inter- 
mission until  the  spring  of  1874.  Mr  Perkins  began 
by  demolishing  the  forest  of  exaggerated  pinnacles 
that  had  sprouted  up  on  either  side  of  the  nave, 
choir,  and  transept  gables,  sometime  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  substituting  others  of  more  modest  dimen- 
sions. A  little  later,  the  east  end  was  taken  down, 
and  rebuilt  in  that  present  form  to  which  I  have 
already  made  allusion,  the  lancet  windows  of  the 
choir,  eastern  transepts,  and  Lady  Chapel,  which 
had  been  transmuted  into  Perpendicular  ones,  or 
had  been  filled  with  tracery  of  that  age,  being  at 
the  same  time  brought  back  to  their  primitive 
form. 

^  The  Benedictine  Chapter-houses  of  Belvoir  and  Evesham, 
and  the  Cistercian  one  of  Abbey  Dore,  were  also  polygonal. 


WORCESTER  185 

The  great  window  of  the  north  transept  which  had 
presented  a  somewhat  debased  character,  was  filled 
with  new  tracery  in  the  Early  Decorated  style,  but 
this  was  objected  to  by  Professor  Willis  on  the 
ground  that  it  belongs  to  a  style  of  which  no  original 
example  exists  in  the  cathedral.  It  was  filled  with 
stained  glass  representing  the  Twelve  Apostles,  by 
Lavers  and  Barraud,  in  1869.  A  little  earlier  the 
same  artists  put  glass  of  exceedingly  rich  and 
brilliant  tinctures — such  as  may  be  seen  in  the  apse 
of  St  Peter's,  Vauxhall,  London — in  the  first  window, 
counting  from  the  east  of  the  north  aisle.  Quite  at 
the  outset  of  the  restorations,  the  corresponding 
window  in  the  opposite  transept,  and  composed  of 
three  lancets  beneath  a  Pointed  arch,  received  its 
complement  of  stained  glass  as  a  memorial  to  Queen 
Adelaide,  resident  for  some  time  at  Wittley  Court. 
It  was  executed  by  Rogers  of  Worcester  from  a 
design  by  Preedy,  and  represents  the  Radix  Jesse 
in  the  central  light,  and  various  holy  women  of  Old 
and  New  Testament  history  in  the  side  ones.  As  a 
specimen  of  revived  glass  in  the  mosaic  style  it  is 
decidedly  praiseworthy,  though  here,  as  in  too  many 
other  instances,  the  ideas  of  the  artist  have  not  been 
quite  successfully  worked  out  by  the  executant. 

The  interior  of  the  nave  was  cleansed  of  white- 
wash between  1863  and  1865,  a  process  which 
revealed  not  only  the  pink  sandstone  of  its  arcades 
and  upper  stages,  but  the  white  oolite  from  Bredon, 
and  the  green  stone  from  Higley  composing  the 
material  of  its  roof.  Indeed,  few  English  cathedrals 
present  so  charming  an  example  of  natural  poly- 
chromy  as   the  nave  of  Worcester.    At  the  same 


i86       CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

time,  the  sculpture  in  the  triforium  arcades  which 
had  been  sadly  mutilated  was  restored  to  something 
of  its  pristine  beauty  under  Boulton.  These  works 
in  the  nave  included  the  removal  of  a  wretchedly 
debased  Gothic  west  window  —  seen  in  Powell's 
picture  of  the  cathedral  at  South  Kensington — and 
the  substitution  of  the  present  imposing  one  of 
eight  lights  from  the  designs  of  Mr  Perkins.  This 
was  filled  thirty  years  ago  with  stained  glass  repre- 
senting the  Days  of  Creation,  by  Hardman  —  very 
soft  and  beautiful,  but  like  too  many  of  that  artist's 
productions  somewhat  deficient  in  depth,  a  mistake 
arising  from  the  attempt  to  acquire  transparency  by 
a  general  washiness  of  tint,  in  place  of  a  bold  employ- 
ment of  grisaille  balanced  by  strongly  expressed 
colours  in  vigorous  contrast.  We  desiderate,  too, 
some  of  that  old  virility  which  he  had  acquired 
under  the  guiding  hand  of  Pugin. 

The  west  doorway  is  likewise  a  work  of  this  period 
(1863-65).  Sufficient  remains  of  the  old  one  were 
discovered  built  up  in  the  wall  to  enable  Mr  Perkins 
to  reproduce  the  main  features  of  the  original  design. 
It  is  in  the  transitional  Norman  style,  having  a 
pointed  arched  head  enriched  with  chevrons,  and 
resting  on  detached  jamb  shafts.  Within  the 
tympanum  is  sculpture  by  Boulton,  of  the  Divine 
Infant  in  His  mother's  arms,  with  an  adoring  angel 
tossing  a  thurible  on  either  side.  In  the  apex  of 
the  gable  is  a  carved  figure  of  Our  Lord  in  the  act 
of  benediction.  Internally,  the  sculptured  groups 
represent  the  Expulsion  from  Paradise  and  the 
Sacrifice  of  Isaac. 

Whether  the  principle  adopted   in  restoring  this 


WORCESTER  187 

portion  of  the  cathedral  was  a  correct  one  or  not  is 
rather  a  difficult  point  to  determine.  According  to 
the  plan  carried  out  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  build- 
ing, the  west  front  should  have  been  brought  back 
to  its  original  state  as  erected  in  transitional  Norman 
times ;  and  the  effect  would,  no  doubt,  have  been 
very  good,  though  a  purely  conjectural  restoration  as 
far  as  regards  the  windows.  To  the  Early  Decorated 
windows  at  the  west  end  of  the  nave  and  its  aisles 
the  same  objection  may  be  made  as  that  brought 
forward  against  the  north  transept  one ;  but  what- 
ever exceptions  may  be  taken  theoretically  to  the 
fenestration  of  the  west  end  of  Worcester  Cathedral, 
the  artistic  effect  must  be  pronounced  satisfactory, 
especially  in  the  interior,  where  the  great  window  in 
particular  forms  a  fine  western  termination  to  the 
vista, 

Mr  Perkins'  works  of  reparation  on  the  exterior  of 
Worcester  Cathedral  have  formed  the  theme  of  much 
adverse  criticism.  It  must,  however,  be  urged  in 
e.xtenuation  that  such  drastic  treatment  was  called 
forth,  not  only  by  the  friable  quality  of  the  stone- 
work of  which  the  building  is  composed,  but  by  the 
wretched  treatment  the  whole  outside  had  received 
during  the  two  preceding  centuries,  presenting  as 
it  did  little  more  than  a  collection  of  mean  and 
uninteresting  disfigurements  and  botchings  which 
combined  to  deprive  its  outline  of  what  little  dignity 
or  beauty  it  possessed.  Even  now,  as  I  remarked  at 
the  outset  of  this  chapter,  the  exterior  of  Worcester 
Cathedral,  despite  its  possession  of  the  eastern  transept, 
can  scarcely  be  pronounced  beautiful  or  picturesque. 
But  within,  since  the  conclusion  of  the  restorations  of 


i88       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

1867-74,  it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that  of  all  our 
cathedrals  in  which  the  high  close  choir-screen  of 
stone  has  been  superseded  by  the  light  open  one  of 
wood  or  metal,  none  is  more  impressive  in  general 
effect  at  a  coup  d'ceit'Ccvasv  Worcester,  or  so  thoroughly 
looks  what  it  is,  the  mother  church  of  one  of  our  most 
densely  populated  dioceses.  Perhaps  this  feeling  of 
religiosity  is  enhanced  at  Worcester  Cathedral  by 
the  location  of  its  two  most  important  instrmnenta — 
the  choir-screen  and  the  reredos — at  the  summit  of 
gently  rising  flights  of  steps,  the  dignified  double  tier 
of  lancets  closing  a  vista  whose  mysterious  effect 
would  be  greatly  enhanced  by  the  insertion  of  stained 
glass  in  the  clerestory  of  the  choir. 

The  entire  structural  repair  of  Worcester  Cathedral 
was  due  to  Mr  Perkins,  though  Sir  Gilbert  Scott 
had  occasionally,  but  not  to  any  great  extent,  been 
consulted  by  the  authorities.  However,  Sir  Gilbert 
became  officially  connected  with  the  building  in 
1864,  when,  the  question  arising  of  restoring  that 
portion  of  the  choir  between  the  tower  and  the 
eastern  transept,  of  decorating  it,  of  adapting  it  to 
a  more  stately  ritual,  and  of  throwing  it  open  to 
the  nave  and  aisles  for  congregational  purposes,  he 
drew  up  a  report  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter  unfolding 
his  plans  for  such  a  redistribution,  which,  with 
some  modifications,  were  eventually  carried  into 
execution. 

In  this  capacity  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  acted  in  con- 
junction with  Mr  Perkins,  who,  dying  in  1873,  just 
as  the  works  were  nearing  their  accomplishment, 
was  not  destined  to  witness  the  church  with  which 
he  had  been  so  long  and   so   intimately  associated. 


WORCESTER  189 

thrown  open  from  end  to  end  in  all  its  restored 
beauty  and  ritual  completeness.^ 

Until  the  closing  of  the  choir  in  May  1867  for 
these  works,  this  portion  of  Worcester  Cathedral 
exhibited  not  only  one  of  the  most  valuable,  but  most 
charming  and  interesting  specimens  of  post- Reforma- 
tion choral  arrangements  in  England,  some  idea  of 
which  may  be  gleaned  from  the  splendid  engravings 
by  Wild  in  his  monograph  on  the  cathedral  published 
in  1823,  and  from  a  beautiful,  though  in  one  particu- 
lar, not  very  correct  woodcut  in  "  Murray's  Hand 
Book."  2 

The  organ-screen  was,  however,  but  a  worthless 
erection  of  181 2,  so  that  its  removal  was  not  a  matter 
for  regret ;  but  one  has  to  mourn  over  the  destruction 
of  the  post-Reformation  choral  fittings,  which,  if  not 
what  one  would  term  old  work,  in  the  usual  sense  of 
the  term  as  referable  to  mediaeval  remains,  was  so 
little  offensive  by  comparison,  and  absolutely  so 
characteristic  and  telling,  as  well  as  satisfying  in 
its  arrangement,  that  one  cannot  but  deplore  its 
loss.  There  are  obvious  limits  to  that  phase  of 
modern  restoration  which  at  the  time  these  renova- 
tions at  Worcester  were  in  progress,  displayed  a 
morbid  desire  of  making  all  things  new  and  in  con- 
formity with  the  style  of  the  building.     New  work 

*  For  the  Three  Choir  Festivals  of  1869  and  1872  the  hoarding, 
that  for  seven  years  filled  up  the  western  arch  of  the  tower,  was 
temporarily  removed.  It  is  possible  that  Mr  Perkins  was  present 
on  one  of  these  occasions  and  saw  the  church,  though  in  a 
somewhat  inchoate  state,  open  from  end  to  end. 

"-  The  artist  having  given  four  aisled  bays  to  the  Lady  Chapel 
instead  of  three. 


190       CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

in  design  is  only  to  be  tolerated  when  that  which  is 
found  already  existing  is  either  thoroughly  bad  as 
art,  or  unsuitable  to  its  proper  uses — not  a  fine  or 
strictly  Gothic  theory,  but  one  which  seems  to  strike 
a  mean  between  the  two  extremes.  Verily  one  may 
almost  say  that  our  churches  have  suffered  more 
severely  from  the  hands  of  their  friends  than  from 
the  attacks  of  time  or  fanaticism. 

In  the  Chapter-house  at  Westminster  Abbey 
there  may  be  seen  two  photographs  of  the  choir 
of  Worcester  Cathedral,  taken  after  it  had  been 
denuded  of  its  post  -  Reformation  fittings,  and 
probably  about  1870.  One  of  these  views  looking 
west — closed  at  the  western  tower  arch  by  boarding 
— is  interesting  as  showing  the  arcades  standing 
free  of  furniture,  besides  as  affording  a  good  idea 
of  the  rough  rubble-work  of  reddish  tufa  which  had 
been  exposed  by  stripping  the  roof  of  its  plaster.  To 
the  retention  of  this  rough  material  Lord  Dudley, 
who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  so  munificent  a 
contributor  to  the  work  of  restoration  at  Worcester, 
objected.  The  vaults,  therefore,  were  replastered 
as  a  vehicle  for  the  coloration  we  now  see,  and 
for  which  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  drew  up  the  entire 
scheme  with  his  own  hand,  Hardman  being 
entrusted  with  its  execution.  In  designing  this 
roof  decoration  at  Worcester,  which  consists  of 
figures  within  medallions  on  cream-coloured  grounds 
relieved  by  scroll-work,  non  -  perspicuity  of  effect 
was  aimed  at.  This  allows  of  a  slight  difficulty 
in  discerning  the  pattern  at  first  sight,  but  it  un- 
doubtedly has  the  effect  of  enhancing  the  height 
of  the  choir. 


WORCESTER  191 

The  other  photograph  to  which  I  have  alluded 
shows  the  choir  looking  east,  with  the  then  just 
erected  reredos  standing  isolated,  and  also  the 
curious  method  resorted  to  in  the  Tudor  period  for 
strengthening  one  of  the  clusters  of  Early  English 
shafts  on  the  north  side  by  encasing  it  on  three 
sides  with  Late  Perpendicular  panelling. 

The  same  view  shows  the  old  pulpit  canopy,  seen 
also  in  Wild's  drawing,  and  apparently  representing 
curtains  drawn  up  in  festoon-like  shapes,  but  this, 
as  well  as  the  Tudor  casing  of  the  pier  to  which  the 
pulpit  was  attached,  was  "  restored "  away,  much  to 
the  vexation  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  who  sent  a  carver 
to  study  it  as  an  example  for  another  object,  when 
it  was  found  conspicuous  only  by  its  absence.  These 
and  other  mistakes,  due  chiefly  to  divided  responsi- 
bility, were  certainly  very  annoying  ;  still,  they  do 
not  detract  from  the  appearance  of  the  restored  choir 
as  a  whole,  which  must  be  considered  extremely 
imposing. 

Until  the  commencement  of  these  works,  the 
choir  was  separated  from  the  north-eastern  transept 
by  a  stone  wall  rising  as  high  as  the  arcades,  and 
pierced  with  four  large  quatre  -  foiled  circles.  It 
was  built  for  the  safety  of  the  adjoining  piers  which 
had  been  thrown  greatly  out  of  the  perpendicular 
by  the  thrust  of  the  arches,  but  has  since  been 
replaced  by  another  screen  corresponding  in  design 
with  that  on  either  side  of  the  grandly  situated  reredos, 
whose  motif  was  furnished,  I  think  I  am  right  in 
saying,  by  the  remains  of  some  arcading  in  the 
refectory,  now  the  King's  School.  It  represents,  in 
five  gabled  compartments,  Our  Lord  seated  in  Majesty 


192       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

between  the  Evangelists ;  and  although  a  work  of 
great  costliness  and  dignity,  and  of  its  kind  one  of 
the  most  successful  from  Scott's  pencil,  falls  somewhat 
short  in  reality  of  what  one's  preconceived  notions 
of  how  such  a  subject  should  be  treated.  Indeed, 
while  fully  appreciating  its  merits,  one  cannot 
help  wishing  that,  considering  the  period  at  which 
the  designs  were  prepared,  Worcester  Cathedral  might 
have  seen  the  germination  of  an  entirely  new  type 
of  reredos. 

The  gift  of  Dean  Peel,  as  a  memorial  of  his  wife, 
it  was  finished  in  1868,  and  a  description  of  it 
appeared  in  almost  the  last  number  of  the 
Ecclesiologist. 

Until  the  erection  of  the  present  reredos,  a 
Perpendicular  screen  of  nine  fenes-triform  compart- 
ments served  the  purpose.  Wild's  view  of  the  choir 
looking  east  shows  it,  as  does  that  marvellous  etch- 
ing by  John  Coney  in  Sir  Henry  Ellis'  edition  of 
Dugdale's  "  Monasticon."  Though  in  itself  ancient, 
this  altar-screen  was  not  intended  for  its  present  posi- 
tion, but  fenced  off  the  two  eastern  transepts,  whence 
it  was  removed  and  converted  into  an  altar-screen 
in  1812.  What  its  predecessor  was  I  am  unable 
to  say,  but  it  is  most  probable  that  it  partook  much 
of  the  character  of  the  old  canopy  work  to  the  stalls 
which  belonged  to  the  early  post- Restoration  epoch. 

The  Late  Perpendicular  chantry  of  Prince  Arthur, 
the  eldest  son  of  Henry  VH,,  and  who  died  at 
Ludlow  Castle,  2nd  April  1502,  forms  a  splendid 
parclose  to  the  south  side  of  the  sanctuary,  which  is 
co-extensive  in  length  with  the  arches  opening  into 
the  eastern  transepts.     The  gilding  of  the  sixteenth- 


WORCESTER  193 

century  tomb  of  King  John,  which  stands,  as  of 
yore,  at  the  foot  of  the  steps  leading  to  the  sanctuary, 
is  very  questionable,  and  was  done  without  the 
approval  or  sanction  of  Sir  Gilbert  Scott. 

The  arrangement  of  the  choir  which  obtained  at 
Worcester  prior  to  the  restoration  of  1867,  is,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  what  is  seen  now.  It  differs 
considerably  from  that  which  existed  during  the 
monastic  period  of  the  church.  Then  the  choir-stalls 
extended  westward,  as  was  usual  in  early  monastic 
churches,  through  the  central  tower  space,  onward 
into  the  nave. 

As  far  as  can  be  gathered,  the  rearrangement  was 
commenced  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI.,  when  the 
ancient  stalls,  which  dated  from  the  latter  part  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  were  temporarily  stowed  away 
in  that  north-eastern  clochium  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  whence  they  were  removed  back  in  Queen 
Mary's  reign,  and  arranged  as  we  now  see  them  in 
the  eastern  arm  of  the  church,  canopies  being  added 
to  them  and  the  bishop's  throne  and  organ-loft  con- 
structed when  the  church  was  rendue  au  culte  after 
the  Puritan  desecration.  Thus,  the  present  arrange- 
ment may  be  considered  as  that  which  belongs 
to  it  historically  as  a  cathedral,  as  distinguished 
from  the  old  one,  which  belonged  to  it  as  an  abbey 
church. 

No  records  exist  relating  to  the  arrangement  of 
the  cathedral  during  the  Commonwealth,  but  we  are 
told  in  the  Townsend  MS.  that  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  31st  August  1660,  the  first  service  in  the 
body  of  the  church,  according  to  ancient  custom,  was 
performed  by  Mr  Rd.  Brown  ;  and  on  2nd  September — 

N 


194       CATHEDRALS   OF    ENGLAND 

"  There  was  a  very  great  assembly  at  morning  prayer, 
by  six  in  the  morning,  and  at  nine  o'clock  there 
appeared  again  at  prayers  all  the  gentry,  many 
citizens  and  others  numerous,  and  after  prayers  Dr 
Doddeswell,  a  new  prebendary,  did  preach  the  first 
sermon,  the  dean  and  prebend  begin  to  resettle  the 
church  in  its  service  and  also  to  repair  the  same 
by  degrees,  which  hardly  ;^  10,000  will  put  the  whole 
fabrick  in  that  order  it  was  before  the  barbarous 
civil  wars." 

The  restored  Chapter  in  their  first  minutes  order 
"that  divine  service  shall  be  said  and  done  in  the 
said  church  every  morning  at  six  of  the  clock,  and 
in  the  quire  also  so  soon  as  it  can  be  repaired  and 
fitted  for  that  purpose."  The  first  choir  service  was 
said  and  sung  on  13th  April  1661. 

The  earliest  mention  of  an  organist  in  the  Worcester 
records  is  in  1448.  "  To  master  Daniell  y'  kep  of 
organs,  xiii.  monks'  lofes."  About  thirty  years 
later  R.  Green  was  the  musical  chief,  his  stipend 
being  forty  shillings  per  annum.  In  1527  Daniel 
Boyce  was  elected  "  organ-player  and  singing  man," 
and  received  but  sixteen  shillings  yearly  in  four  equal 
payments  at  the  four  principal  feasts.  He,  too,  had 
loaves  and  ale  for  rations  and  a  linen  gown  or  toga. 
Bishop  Blandford  states  that  the  chapel  of  St  Edmund 
in  the  great  south  transept,  had  a  pair  of  organs,  and 
that  of  St  George  a  great  pair  of  organs,  which  were 
pulled  down  by  Dean  Barlow  in  1550.  The  great 
organ  (probably  in  the  choir)  was  taken  down  30th 
August  1 55 1.  In  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary  a  pair  of 
organs  was  set  up  on  the  north  side  of  the  choir,  and 
in  1613  the  very  large  sum  of  ;^38i,  2s.  8d.  (multiplied 
by  eight  to  represent  the  present  value)  was  paid  to 


WORCESTER  195 

Thomas  Dallam  for  a  great  organ  and  "choire" 
organ.  This  instrument  was  taken  down  by  the 
Puritans  in  July  1646. 

"  Many  gentlemen  went  to  six  o'clock  prayers  to 
the  college,  to  take  their  last  farewell  of  the  Church 
of  England  Service,  the  organs  having  been  taken 
down  on  the  20th."  There  was  also  an  organ  at  the 
west  end  of  the  nave  (where  the  sermons  were  preached 
from  the  pulpit  now  in  the  choir)  which  in  1642  was 
removed  into  the  Lady  Chapel  ;  but  half  a  century 
later  we  find,  from  Mr  Noake's  invaluable  "  Monastery 
and  Cathedral  of  Worcester,"  published  in  1866,  that 
there  was  a  little  instrument  at  the  west  end  with  a 
separate  organist.  After  the  Restoration,  an  agree- 
ment was  made,  5th  July  1666,  between  the  Dean  and 
Chapter,  and  Thomas  Harris,  of  New  Sarum,  for  the 
erection  within  eighteen  months  of  a  new  organ  in 
the  choir,  to  cost  ;^400.  Mr  Harris  subsequently 
added  a  flute  stop  "  in  ye  choire  organ,"  and  at  the 
same  time  repaired  and  tuned  the  old  organ,  and  it 
was  ordered  "  That  the  great  organ  in  the  quire  be 
suitably  painted  at  next  summer,"  which  cost  the  sum 
of  ;^40.  It  was  again  "  decently  adorned  and  gilded," 
and  carved  shields  placed  over  it.  In  1752  the  organ 
was  enlarged  and  repaired  by  Swarbrook,  at  an 
expense  of  ^^^300,  but  in  1842  this  instrument  was 
removed,  and  a  new  one  erected  by  Hill,  which 
retained  its  old  position  on  the  screen  until  the 
restorations  of  1867-74. 

The  present  choir-screen  of  oak  and  metal  is  light, 
graceful,  and  quite  sufficient  to  break  the  long  per- 
spective, but  it  is  not  what  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  had 
in    mind    when    he    presented   his    report    on    the 


196       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

rearrangement  of  the  choir  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter 
in  1864.  His  plan  was  to  erect  a  double  open 
jube,  a  feature  for  which  the  blank  space  adjoining 
the  eastern  arch  of  the  tower  was  admirably  adapted, 
placing  upon  it  the  keyboard  of  the  organ  and  the 
choir  organ  itself;  drafting  off  the  heavier  parts  to 
the  above-mentioned  wall  space.  This  suggestion 
was  warmly  seconded  by  Sir  Frederick  Ouseley,  but 
the  instrument  —  rebuilt  by  Hill  —  was  eventually 
placed  within  the  second  bay  of  the  choir  on  the 
north  side,  much  to  the  regret  of  both  architect 
and  musician,  thereby  necessitating  the  erection  of 
another  organ  in  the  south  transept  for  the  nave 
services.  In  1896  the  two  organs  were  entirely 
rearranged  under  the  Hope  -  Jones  system,  the 
enlargement  of  that  in  the  choir  demanding  the 
construction  of  another  case,  which  has  been  made 
to  match  the  one  on  the  north  side,  and  with 
excellent  effect. 

Of  organists  at  Worcester  since  the  Restoration  we 
find  one,  R.  Cherington  (1690- 1700)  who,  as  Mr  John 
E.  West  in  his  invaluable  "  Cathedral  Organists,  Past 
and  Present,"  informs  us,  was  ordered  in  October 
1697  to  do  penance  in  the  cathedral  for  quarrelling 
and  fighting  with  a  lay-clerk.  Another  was  William 
Hayes,  who  wrote  many  excellent  anthems  still  in 
use  (1731-34).  Thomas  Pitt  (1793- 1806)  is  chiefly 
remembered  by  his  "  Selection  of  Sacred  Music 
principally  from  the  Works  of  Handel."  It  is 
related  that  "  on  one  occasion  a  lay-clerk  of  the 
cathedral  named  Griffiths,  took  offence  at  Pitt's 
accompaniment  to  one  of  his  solos,  and  being  a  man 
of  rather  eccentric  manners,  he   surprised  the  choir 


WORCESTER  197 

and  congregation  by  slamming  his  book  and  shout- 
ing, 'Pitt's  wrong,  Pitt's  wrong!'" 

During  Dr  Done's  organistship  (1844  -  95)  great 
improvements  were  effected  in  the  music  at  Worcester; 
indeed,  at  the  present  day  there  are  few  cathedrals  in 
which  the  service  is  performed,  whether  musically 
or  ritually,  with  greater  dignity  and  reverence.  A 
pleasing  change  has  been  made  of  late  years  in  the 
choir  vestments  of  the  boys,  scarlet  cassocks  having 
been  substituted  for  the  black  ones  usually  worn  in 
our  minsters. 

While  the  choir  was  in  course  of  rearrangement, 
the  altar,  with  a  curious  disregard  for  orientation,  was 
set  up  at  the  west  end  of  the  nave,  which  had  been 
temporarily  fitted  for  service. 

The  restored  cathedral  was  reopened  with  a  series 
of  imposing  services  on  Wednesday  in  Easter  week, 
8th  April  1874,  and  the  effect  of  the  church  from  the 
west  end,  with  its  stone  groined  roof  running  in  an 
unbroken  length  of  390  feet,  is  grand  in  the  extreme. 
It  may  not  rank  among  cathedrals  of  the  first  class, 
but  there  are  few  in  which  a  more  interesting  and 
instructive  day  can  be  spent  than  Worcester. 


CHAPTER  VII 

HEREFORD 

Generally  speaking,  our  cathedrals  present  an 
embarras  de  richesses  of  chronological  facts,  the  most 
important  parts  of  their  history  being  so  fully  and 
accurately  stated,  that  the  difficulty  arises  from 
Condensing  the  materials  rather  than  in  searching 
for  them.  To  this  rule,  the  cathedral  which  forms 
the  subject  of  our  present  chapter,  stands  almost,  I 
may  say,  quite  alone,  as  an  exception,  a  nullity  of 
historical  information  in  regard  to  its  structure, 
obliging  us  to  guess  at  theories,  and  to  furnish 
excuses  for  them  which  it  is  impossible  to  prove  or 
test  except  from  the  character  of  the  various  styles 
of  architecture  represented  in  it.  And  of  these, 
Hereford,  for  a  cathedral  of  its  size,  has  a  very  large 
share.  In  fact,  in  presenting  his  report  on  the  fabric 
to  the  Dean  and  Chapter  in  1841,  Professor  Willis  was 
constrained  to  admit  that  the  period  of  no  one  part 
of  the  church  had  been  recorded  with  the  exception 
of  the  foundation  of  its  (now  alas !  destroyed)  west 


KREFORD 


TT 

^^     CATHEDRAL. 


North  Transept,  Porch  and  Tower 


HEREFORD  199 

front.  Since  then,  however,  some  particulars  have 
come  to  light,  chiefly  with  regard  to  the  fourteenth- 
century  portions,  but  they  do  not  help  us  very  much. 

Hereford  Cathedral  is  dedicated  to  St  Ethelbert, 
King  of  East  Anglia,  who,  for  the  purpose  of  increas- 
ing his  territory,  was  murdered  in  or  about  the  year 
793  by  his  father-in-law — or  intended  father-in-law, 
Offa,  the  great  King  of  Mercia.  At  that  time  Here- 
ford was  known  as  Fernleigh,  and  hither  the  body  of 
the  murdered  king  was  conveyed  for  interment  by  a 
pious  noble,  one  Brithfrid.  About  830  the  church 
was  rebuilt  in  stone  by  Milfrid,  ruler  of  Mercia,  in 
honour  of  the  now  sainted  martyr,  and  some  two 
hundred  years  later  was  rebuilt  by  Bishop  Athelstan, 
in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor. 

This  structure,  however,  had  but  a  brief  existence, 
being  burnt  in  1056  by  Griffin,  the  Welsh  king,  or 
Bruce,  who  slew  Leofgan,  the  bishop,  and  many  of  his 
clergy.  Two  Lothringians  succeeded  Leofgan  in  the 
episcopal  stool  at  Hereford  —  Walter  de  Lorraine 
(1061  -79)  nominated  by  the  Confessor,  and  Robert 
de  Losing  (1076  -  95)  appointed  by  the  Conqueror. 
The  latter  undertook  the  reconstruction  of  the 
cathedral  which  had  lain  in  ruins  since  Griffin's 
invasion,  and  if  we  are  to  understand  William  of 
Malmesbury  aright,  it  resembled  one  of  those 
circular  or  octagonal  churches,  which  having  as  their 
prototype  St  Vitale  at  Ravenna,  or  more  probably 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem,  were 
frequently  employed  in  Germany  during  the  ninth 
and  tenth  centuries.  Of  these  the  well-known  one  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  another  at  Ottmarsheim  in  Alsace 
— probably  the  actual  model  for  Losing  at  Hereford 


20O       CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

— and  a  portion  of  a  third  at  Essen,  just  on  the 
borders  of  Westphalia,  are  all  that  survive  of  this 
peculiar  type  of  church,  which  may  be  said  to  have 
reproduced  itself  in  some  degree  in  those  semi- 
circular or  polygonal  western  apses  of  which  there 
are  numerous  examples  throughout  Germany. 

However,  in  the  present  cathedral  at  Hereford, 
there  is  not  a  trace  or  suggestion  of  any  of  these 
buildings.  Robert  of  Lorraine's  work,  whatever 
shape  it  took,  was  utterly  obliterated  by  Reynelm, 
who  held  the  See  from  1 107  to  11 15.  This  prelate 
commenced  a  new  cathedral  on  the  plan  as  now 
existing,  but  being  left  during  the  troublous  reign  of 
Stephen  in  a  very  unfinished  state,  it  was  not  taken 
up  again  until  the  time  of  his  third  successor  in  the 
See,  Robert  de  Bethune,  who  gave  it  its  present 
Norman  form. 

This  church  at  Hereford  differed  from  the  type 
usually  employed,  both  in  plan  and  detail.  The 
eight  bays  of  its  Norman  nave  are  quite  unlike 
anything  produced  contemporaneously  in  the  three 
great  East  Anglian  minsters,  while  the  choir,  instead 
of  terminating  eastward  in  an  apse  formed  by 
repeating  the  three  storeys  in  semi -circular  continuity, 
ends  in  a  rectangle,  a  nobly  moulded  Norman 
arch  rising  as  high  as  the  string-course  below  the 
clerestory,  beyond  which  was  a  separate  and  narrow 
apse.  Each  aisle  terminated  in  a  semicircle,  and 
each  of  these  three  apses  was  roofed  separately  in 
the  style  so  frequent  among  the  German  Romanesque 
churches  of  a  much  later  age. 

Of  this  early  twelfth-century  cathedral,  all  that 
remains  to  us  is  the  nave  arcade,  the  south  transept. 


HEREFORD  201 

the  arch  opening  from  the  north  transept  into 
the  choir  aisle,  and  the  choir  itself  as  far  as  the 
spring  of  the  clerestory.  All  this  work  is  carried 
out  in  a  style  of  richness  that  seems  to  have  made 
itself  generally  felt  in  this  part  of  the  country,  as 
evidenced,  inter  alia,  by  the  east  end  of  Llandaff 
Cathedral — where  the  Hereford  arrangement  was 
most  probably  followed,  and  by  the  rich  little 
churches  of  Kilpeck  and  Shobdon. 

In  its  original  state  the  nave  of  Hereford  with  its 
less  lofty  columns,  surmounted  by  a  well-pro- 
portioned triforium  and  clerestory,  must  have 
composed  a  much  more  harmonious  grouping  of 
parts  than  those  of  Gloucester  and  Tewksbury  with 
their  exaggerated  cylindrical  piers  and  unduly 
stunted  upper  storeys,  though  it  is  possible  that 
the  two  ranges  of  aisles  —  almost  equal  in  height 
—  running  unbroken  round  the  choirs  of  those 
churches,  may  have  produced  a  more  pleasing  effect 
than  the  non-continuous  arrangement  at  Hereford. 
However,  as  works  of  the  same  period  they  form 
interesting  architectural  comparisons,  each  system 
being  good  and  nobly  carried  out. 

On  the  removal  of  the  flooring  in  1847,  with  the 
view  of  restoring  the  pavement  of  the  nave  to  its 
original  level,  it  was  found  that  the  Norman  columns, 
instead  of  resting  on  circular  bases  of  small  pro- 
jections, were  placed  on  bold  square  ones,  which 
had  been  concealed  under  the  modem  paving. 
These,  when  opened  to  the  original  level,  gave  an 
unusually  fine  proportion  to  the  massive  Norman  pier 
range  of  the  nave,  though  the  piers  when  buried  had 
presented   a   depressed   and   stumpy  appearance,  as 


202       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

may   be    seen    from    the    illustrations   in   Britton's 
and  Storer's  "  Cathedrals."     Nor  was  this  the  only 
discovery.     The  small  plinths  which  served  as  bases 
to   the  double  semi-cylindrical    face-shafts,  formerly 
running  up  the  face  of  the  piers,  were  also  brought 
to   light ;   the   original   ones    having   been   removed 
to    make   way    for    an    incongruous   triple   vaulting 
shaft   substituted   by   Wyatt,   when   he  erected   the 
present   triforium   with   its    painfully   glaring   clere- 
story after  the   fall   of  the  great  western   tower   in 
1786.     The   restoration  of  the  face-shafts,  although 
scrupulously  copied  from  the  ancient  examples  still 
remaining  on  the  side  of  the  piers  facing  the  aisles 
(having  never  been   removed),  terminating  as   they 
do   in   small  double  capitals   reaching   only   to   the 
height  of  the  capitals  of  the  great  cylindrical  piers, 
instead    of    being    carried    up    as    vaulting    shafts, 
occasioned  much  discussion,  not  only  in  the  Restora- 
tion Committee,  but  amongst  others  who  were  loud 
in   their   condemnation   of  them   as  non-supporting 
capitals.     But  independently  of  the  extremely  diminu- 
tive proportion  of  the  capitals  and  abaci  which  when 
sculptured,    scarcely    projected    beyond    the    larger 
capitals   of  the   piers  that   are  bisected  by  them,  it 
was  clear  from  a  drawing  by  Hearne  made  of  the 
nave   shortly  after  the  fall  of  the  western  tower  in 
1786,   that   they    formerly  existed  ;  a  fact   sufficient 
to  justify   those   engaged   in    the   work    of  restora- 
tion in  replacing  them.     This  was  not  only  proved 
by  the  buried  plinths,  but  by  this  identical   feature 
being  found  at  the  back  of  these  very  piers.     The 
idea    of   uniting     these     face-shafts    with     Wyatt's 
triple   vaulting   shafts  being   given   up,  Cottinghara 


HEREFORD  203 

— the  architect  engaged  in  restoring  the  cathedral 
between  1840  and  1850 — made  the  latter  spring 
from  sculptured  corbels  just  below  the  string- 
course of  the  triforium,  which  with  the  clerestory, 
albeit  palpably  offensive  to  the  eye  of  taste,  and 
deficient  in  detail,  is  not  ill-proportioned.  From 
Hearne's  drawing  one  would  imagine  that  the  nave 
vaulting  was  of  the  Decorated  period,  and  that  the 
clerestory  windows  were  tall  Norman  ones  in  which 
work  of  a  later  character  had  been  inserted.  But  on 
this  point  it  is  only  possible  to  speak  with  diffidence, 
as  eighteenth-century  prints,  such  as  those  in  Browne 
Willis  and  Boswell's  '*  Antiquities,"  published  about 
1760,  are  hardly  to  be  relied  on. 

Shutting  our  eyes  to  the  unlucky  upper  storeys  of 
the  nave,  this  part  of  the  church  is  undoubtedly  very 
fine,  though  deficient  in  that  dignity  and  interest 
which  successive  flights  of  steps  confer  upon  that 
of  neighbouring  Worcester — the  eye  ranging  along 
the  noble  avenue  of  stout,  cyclindrical  columns  and 
richly  moulded  round  arches  to  the  tower,  whose 
lantern,  disclosed  to  view  by  the  removal  of  a  Late 
Gothic  ceiling,  constitutes  an  impressive  feature  in 
the  ensemble.  Thence,  through  the  dignified  choir- 
screen,  and  the  dimly  religious  eastern  limb  of  the 
church,  the  view  leads  us  to  the  very  penetralia  of 
the  Lady  Chapel,  with  its  exquisite  quintuplet  of 
lancet  windows,  rising  from  clusters  of  banded  shafts 
and  enriched  with  stained  glass,  forming  a  memorial 
to  good  Dean  Merewether,  who  sounded  the  first  note 
in  the  restoration  of  this  grand  old  western  cathedral. 

There   are    many  ancient  English  interiors  which 
can  be  called   truly  pictorial,  but  this  of  Hereford. 


204       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

seen  under  certain  conditions  of  sunset,  with  the 
light  streaming  through  the  superb  stained  glass 
in  the  west  windows,  leaving  the  eastern  part  of  the 
church  in  gloom,  is  undeniably  solemn. 

The  original  parallel-triapsal  form  of  the  choir  at 
Hereford  had  but  a  brief  existence,  for,  during  the 
episcopate  of  William  de  Vere,  who  ruled  from  1 1 86 
to  1 199,  a  radical  change  in  the  plan  took  place, 
the  three  apses  being  entirely  removed,  and  an 
eastern  aisle  or  procession  path,  designed  to  com- 
municate with  a  Lady  Chapel,  substituted.  This 
work  was  carried  out  in  the  style  transitional 
between  Norman  and  Early  English,  as  shown  by 
the  two  circular  pillars  supporting  the  groined  roof 
of  the  procession  path,  and  a  lancet  window  in 
the  north  and  south  walls  at  the  west  end  of  the 
Lady  Chapel.  Conceived  in  a  spirit  of  refinement, 
it  was  to  be  excelled  only  thirty  years  later,  when 
the  present  Lady  Chapel,  of  the  richest  and  most 
graceful  Early  English  character,  and  raised  upon  a 
crypt,  the  last  instance  of  one  in  England,  was 
carried  out  (c.  1220)  as  an  extension  of  De  Vere's 
Lady  Chapel,  whose  eastern  wall,  apsidal  or  other- 
wise, was,  of  course,  removed. 

In  so  felicitous  a  manner  was  this  done  that 
nowhere,  perhaps,  in  England  can  the  manner  in 
which  the  Transitional  grew  out  of  the  Norman,  and 
the  Early  English  in  its  turn  from  the  Transitional, 
be  more  easily  studied  than  in  this  fascinating 
eastern  part  of  Hereford  Cathedral. 

The  unsettling  and  sinking  of  the  tower  having 
damaged  the  original  clerestory  and  vaulting  of  the 
choir — for,  to  judge  from  the  great  pilasters  between 


HEREFORD  205 

the  arcades,  it  must  have  been  vaulted,  which  was  by 
no  means  usual  at  that  time  in  English  churches  of 
so  great  a  span — it  was  found  necessary  to  rebuild 
those  portions.  Accordingly  this  was  carried  out,  in 
all  probability,  between  1250  and  1260,  and  in  a 
more  advanced  style  of  Early  English  than  the 
Lady  Chapel.  The  windows  in  the  north  and  south 
clerestory  are  composed  of  two  lights,  under  a 
pointed  head,  the  space  above  them  being  pierced 
"  plate-tracery  "-wise,  with  a  quatrefoil.  Additional 
grace  is  lent  to  them,  viewed  from  within,  by  a 
light  open  arcade,  forming  what  is  termed  an  "  inner 
plane  of  tracery,"  and  introduced  to  take  off  some  of 
the  sombre  effect  that  the  deep  splay,  necessitated  by 
the  thickness  of  the  wall,  produces.  For  the  wall 
space  above  the  eastern  arch,  above  which  runs  a 
row  of  blind  arcades,  three  lancets  were  employed, 
but  those  we  see  now  are  modern  works,  having 
been  substituted  by  Cottingham  for  a  debased 
Perpendicular  window.  Some  work  of  re-edification 
must  have  been  in  progress  at  Hereford  almost 
without  intermission  from  the  end  of  the  twelfth  to 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  for  hardly 
had  the  choir  received  its  present  clerestory,  when 
the  Norman  north  transept  was  removed,  and  re- 
placed towards  the  close  of  Bishop  d'Acquablanca's  ^ 

'  The  remains  of  this  prelate  are  enshrined  beneath  a  very 
beautiful  canopied  tomb  of  thirteenth-century  architecture, 
placed  within  the  arch  opening  from  the  north  choir  aisle  into 
that  of  the  transept,  but  for  details  of  this  and  other  sepulchral 
memorials  in  which  the  cathedral  is  rich,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  a  very  excellent  little  Guide,  compiled  by  Rev.  F.  T.  Havergal, 
and  presented  gratuitously  to  visitors. 


2o6       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

episcopate  (1230-68)  with  that  unique  piece  of 
geometrical  Decorated  work,  which,  in  its  windows 
and  pier  arches,  exhibits  the  peculiarity  of  a  curva- 
ture so  slight  as  to  give  the  appearance  of  two 
straight  lines  meeting  at  an  angle.  The  eastern 
side  of  this  transept  is  furnished  with  an  aisle  of 
two  bays,  wherein  stands  that  gem  of  sepulchral 
architecture,  the  pedestal  or  throne,  which  in  pre- 
Reformation  times  supported  the  shrine  of  Thomas 
de  Cantilupe,  Bishop  of  Hereford  from  1275  to  1282, 
and  the  last  Englishman  canonised.  The  western 
side  of  this  transept  has  two  windows  of  three  lights 
each,  whose  almost  preternatural  elongation  recalls 
those  in  the  German  "  hall  "  churches,  i.e.,  in  which 
the  nave  and  aisles  are  all  vaulted  at  the  same  level. 
At  Hereford,  however,  their  solidity  of  construction 
prevents  them  from  assuming  that  wire -drawn 
appearance  presented  by  so  many  German  examples. 
The  six-light  northern  window  is  a  noble  concep- 
tion, but  the  tracery  is  quite  sui  generis,  and,  like 
that  in  the  side  windows,  must  be  considered  curious 
rather  than  actually  beautiful. 

Hardman's  stained  glass  in  this  great  north 
transept  window  at  Hereford,  inserted  about  1865, 
represents  in  a  number  of  medallions  the  operation 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  subjects  from  Scripture 
relating  to  the  Church  Militant  and  Triumphant. 
It  is  a  fine  piece  of  work,  and  very  hieratic  in  its 
treatment,  but  suffers  somewhat  from  the  super- 
abundance of  light  poured  in  through  the,  as  yet, 
unstoried  panes  of  the  tall  windows  in  the  western 
wall. 

Truly  exquisite  is  the  diapering  of  the  spandrels 


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HEREFORD  207 

in  the  triforium  arcade,  whose  triangular  arches — 
the  dominant  form  here — although  graceful,  would 
hardly  bear  repetition  in  a  long  array.  They  seem, 
however,  to  have  influenced  the  architect  of  the 
fourteenth-century  nave  at  neighbouring  Worcester, 
where,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  triforium  stage, 
instead  of  exposing  the  rafters  of  the  lean-to  roofed 
aisles,  is  walled  up  behind  the  arcades,  leaving 
merely  a  passage  way  between  the  two.  At  Hereford 
a  chamber  is  constructed  above  the  eastern  aisle 
of  this  transept,  in  all  probability  for  the  custodian 
of  the  Cantilupe  Shrine,  whose  Purbeck  marble 
pedestal,  a  good  specimen  of  Early  Decorated  art, 
is  enriched  with  military  statuettes  explanatory  of 
Cantilupe's  position  as  Grand  Master  of  the  English 
Templars,  and  carefully  chosen  foliaged  ornament 
in  the  spandrels  of  its  trefoiled  arcades.  Twice 
during  the  sixteenth  century  was  this  shrine  trans- 
lated :  first,  to  its  former  place  in  the  Lady  Chapel, 
and  again,  back  to  its  present  one  in  the  eastern  aisle 
of  the  north  transept. 

For  the  reason  I  have  stated  the  windows  lighting 
the  triforium  here  are  not  visible  externally,  but  they 
are  of  such  beauty  and  interest  that  I  must  ask 
the  reader  to  quit  the  interior  for  a  short  time, 
and  station  himself  on  the  green  to  the  east  of 
this  transept,  whence  they  can  be  best  viewed. 

They  are  composed  of  a  semicircular  head  spring- 
ing from  pillarets,  and  enclose  large  circles  of  eight 
cuspings.  Now  these  circles  had  been  transmuted 
into  Perpendicular  windows,  remaining  thus  until  Sir 
Gilbert  Scott  began  to  work  here,  and  apparently  no 
suggestion  remained  as  to  what  form  they  originally 


2o8       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

took.  One  day,  when  surveying  the  cathedral  from 
the  close,  it  occurred  to  Sir  Gilbert  that  these  windows 
might  have  been  circles.  Holding  up  a  half-crown 
piece,  and  fitting  it  in  perspective  to  the  window  arch, 
he  found  that  its  lower  edge  just  touched  the  sill. 
This  induced  him  to  cut  into  the  interpolated  work, 
when,  lo  and  behold !  not  only  the  circles  but  the 
grooves  for  their  cusps,  and  some  of  the  curious  cusps 
themselves,  came  to  light  after  probably  four  centuries 
of  burial.  So,  emboldened  by  this  discovery — by 
no  means  the  solitary  one  of  this  kind  made  by  Scott 
— he  restored  these  windows  to  the  form  we  now  see. 

The  south  transept,  although  retaining  much  of 
its  Norman  work,  "  seems  to  have  been  the  happy 
hunting  ground  of  successive  series  of  builders  who 
have  left  the  side  walls  in  admired  confusion,"  says 
Mr  Phillips  Bevan  in  his  pleasant  "  Guide  to  the 
Wye  and  its  Neighbourhood."  The  east  wall  is 
entirely  Norman,  and  in  the  clerestory  windows 
may  be  seen  the  stained  glass  which  was  formerly 
in  the  central  lancet  at  the  east  end  of  the  choir. 

A  large  Perpendicular  window  has  been  inserted 
in  the  south  wall  of  this  transept,  and  another  with 
panelling  round  it  in  the  western  one.  The  late 
groining  which  springs  from  corbelled  shafts  is 
very  fine  and  bold,  and,  combined  with  the  four 
Norman  stages  into  which  the  eastern  side  of  the 
transept  is  divided,  give  this  part  of  the  church 
much  dignity  and  interest. 

The  Decorated  period  greatly  enriched  Hereford 
Cathedral  owing,  in  an  eminent  degree,  to  the 
offerings  made  at  the  shrine  of  St  Thomas  de 
Cantilupe,    whose    canonisation    took    place   thirty- 


HEREFORD  209 

eight  years  after  his  death,  viz.,  in  1320.  It  is  to  a 
date  somewhat  subsequent  to  that  period,  that  we 
must  assign  the  graceful  cinquefoil  headed  doorway 
leading  from  the  north  porch  into  the  nave,  like- 
wise the  large  geometrically  traceried  windows 
lighting '  the  aisles  of  nave,  choir,  and  eastern 
transepts.  Like  those  at  Wells  the  eastern  transepts 
at  Hereford  are  only  commensurate  in  height  with 
the  aisles,  but  they  certainly  assist  with  the  central 
tower,  north  transept,  and  deeply  projecting  Lady 
Chapel,  in  composing  a  delightful  assemblage  of 
objects.  With  the  construction  of  the  fourteenth- 
century  eastern  transepts  and  their  aisles,  Bishop 
de  Vere's  original  termination  to  the  choir  aisles 
vanished,  but  his  portion  of  walling  in  the  western 
bay  of  the  Lady  Chapel,  which  now  appears  inside 
the  building,  was  suffered  to  remain.  Unaware  of 
the  fact,  the  visitor  is  at  first  puzzled  at,  and  then 
delighted  with,  that  unglazed  lancet  which,  with  its 
rich  mouldings  and  graceful  shafts,  forms  so  valu- 
able a  specimen  of  that  age  of  our  architecture 
when  the  Norman  had  not  fully  given  way  to  the 
perfected  English  Pointed, 

The  massive  and  dignified  central  tower,  to  which 
the  angle  buttresses  and  pinnacles  lend  such  character, 
may  also  be  assigned  to  the  early  part  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  as  testified  by  that  abundant  use  of 
the  ball  flower  ornament  which  imparts  so  curiously 
stippled  a  texture,  yet  which  is  vastly  agreeable. 
In  some  respects  of  detail,  this  tower  at  Hereford 
may  be  compared  with  its  slenderer  contemporary 
at  Salisbury. 

Of  Perpendicular  work,  late  but  good,   Hereford 

O 


2IO       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Cathedral  presents  examples  in  Bishop  Audley's 
chantry  which  projects  from  the  south  side  of  the 
Lady  Chapel ;  Bishop  Booth's  dignified  parvise  porch, 
which  so  well  prepares  the  mind  for  the  solemnities 
of  the  interior ;  the  entrance  to  the  College  of  Vicars 
Choral ;  and  the  Cloisters,  of  which  the  eastern  and 
southern  ambulatories  alone  remain. 

The  ancient  west  front,  which  appears  to  have 
resembled  that  of  Rochester  Cathedral,  was  sur- 
mounted by  a  tower  130  feet  high,  and,  as  far  as 
one  can  judge  by  the  plate  in  Browne  Willis' 
Survey  (171 8),  featured  the  central  one.  Both 
towers  are  represented  in  that  work  crowned  with 
leaden  spires.  Engaged  as  it  was  in  the  last  bay 
of  the  nave,  this  western  tower  of  Hereford 
Cathedral  could  never  have  presented  so  stately 
an  appearance  as  those  in  the  same  situation  at 
Ely,  Wymondham,  and  Wimborne,  where  each  forms 
a  member  quite  distinct  from  the  nave,  though  of 
course  attached  to  it. 

On  Easter  Monday  1786,  the  western  tower  of 
Hereford  fell.  It  was  the  old  story  :  the  piling 
up  of  later  work  on  a  foundation  not  designed  to 
receive  it ;  the  substitution,  during  the  reign  of 
Henry  VL,  of  a  Perpendicular  window  in  lieu  of 
the  three  original  Norman  ones;  and  subsequent 
neglect  of  necessary  repairs.  In  its  fall  the  tower 
greatly  injured  the  first  bay  of  the  nave,  and  to 
repair  the  damage  the  Dean  and  Chapter  requisi- 
tioned the  "elegant  taste  of  Mr  Wyatt,"  who,  not 
content  with  removing  all  traces  of  the  west  front, 
and  shortening  the  nave  by  one  bay,  destroyed 
the   Norman   triforium   and   clerestory  of  that  part 


HEREFORD  211 

which  had  escaped  injury,  replacing  it  by  the  feeble 
work  we  now  see.  Fortunately  we  are  able  to 
form  some  idea  of  what  the  Norman  nave  of  Here- 
ford Cathedral  was  like  before  Wyatt's  depredations, 
from  a  drawing  made  shortly  after  the  fall  of  the 
tower  by  an  artist  to  whom  I  have  already  alluded, 
Thomas  Hearne,  who  with  Cozens,  Paul  and  Thomas 
Sandby,  and  Tavemer,  may  be  looked  upon  as  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  water-colour  drawing. 

Though  restricted  in  colour,  Heame's  works  are 
harmonious  and  sunny ;  his  drawing  is  true  and 
elegant,  showing  direct  observation  of  nature,  and 
by  these  qualities  (combined  with  a  fine  sense  of 
composition)  he  greatly  advanced  the  art  of  land- 
scape painting  in  water  colours,  and  had  a  strong 
influence  on  Turner  and  Girtin.  From  Heame's 
general  accuracy,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  he 
gives  an  exact  view  of  the  nave  of  Hereford  as  it 
appeared  just  after  the  accident :  indeed,  if  it  were  not 
for  this  drawing,  there  might  be  doubts  about  Wyatt's 
tampering  which  falsified  the  architectural  history 
of  the  cathedral.  Britton  included  this  drawing 
of  Hearne's  in  his  monograph  on  Hereford ;  also 
Whymper,  who  introduced  it  into  a  very  charming 
series  of  views  that  appeared  from  the  facile  pencil  of 
that  accomplished  draughtsman  about  sixty  years 
ago  in  a  long  since  defunct  religious  magazine. 

Between  1832  and  1836,  Augustus  Welby  Pugin 
made  a  tour  for  the  purpose  of  examining  several 
cathedrals  yet  unknown  to  him,  and  in  a  series  of 
racy  letters  to  his  friend  Osmond  of  Salisbury,  he 
dwelt  upon  the  state  of  sordid  and  contemptuous 
n^lect,   decay   and   dilapidation   into   which   these 


212        CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

magnificent  fabrics  had  been  permitted,  for  the  most 
part,  to  lapse. 

One  letter,  dated  "  St  Lawrence,  Oct  xxvii  Anno. 
Dom.  mdcccxxxiii,"  and  illustrated  in  a  singularly 
beautiful  manner,  details  the  experiences  of  that 
merciless  censor  at  Bristol,  Taunton,  Chepstow  and 
Tintem,  whence  a  four-horse  coach  conveyed  him  to 
Hereford,  which  he  describes  as  "an  old-fashioned 
but  not  ancient-looking  town,  common  brick  houses 
dull  shops,  and  empty  streets."  Maddened  by  the 
sight,  he  rushes  to  the  cathedral,  only  to  find,  to  his 
horror  and  dismay,  that  Wyatt  had  been  there  before 
him.  "  The  west  front  was  his  !  Need  I  say  more  ? " 
wails  Pugin,  and  he  tells  us  that  he  could  hardly 
summon  sufficient  fortitude  to  enter  and  examine  the 
interior. 

Shorn  of  its  proper  length,  with  its  miserable 
"  Gothic "  west  front,  clerestory,  and  lowered  roofs, 
Hereford  Cathedral  remained  until  1 841,  when  the 
work  of  restoring  it  was  commenced,  under  Dean 
Mercwether,  who,  like  his  contemporaries.  Peacock  at 
Ely,  and  Chandler  at  Chichester,  was  assiduous  in 
bringing  back  something  of  its  pristine  splendour  to 
the  structure  over  which  he  had  been  called  to 
preside.  At  this  period  the  beautiful  north  transept 
was  used  as  the  parish  church  of  St  John  the  Baptist,^ 
for  which  purpose,  as  may  be  seen  from  a  view  in 
Storer's  "  Cathedrals, "  it  was  pewed  and  gallcried, 
greatly  to  the  detriment  of  its  exquisite  detail.  The 
same  view  shows  the  north  and  south  arches  of  the 

*  The  Lady  Chapel  now  forms  the  Church  of  St  John  the 
Baptist.  It  has  been  furnished  in  a  Catholic  manner,  and  its 
general  aspect  is  very  solemn  and  religious. 


HEREFORD  213 

central  tower  filled  up  with  "ox  eye"  masonry — i.e. 
two  half-arches  springing  from  an  octagonal  column 
with  the  wall  space  above  them  pierced  by  an  open- 
ing in  the  form  of  vesica  piscis — well-meant  but  futile 
precautions  for  the  safety  of  the  tower  that  were 
introduced  during  the  fourteenth  century ;  for 
Professor  Willis,  on  being  called  in  to  report  on  the 
central  tower  in  1841,  pronounced  the  masonry  of  the 
great  arches  and  the  spandrel  walls  above  to  be  in 
such  a  state  of  ruin  as  to  make  an  absolute  repair 
necessary  for  its  preservation.  This  work,  accom- 
plished between  1842  and  1846,  and  ranking  among 
the  most  stupendous  engineering  feats  of  its  age,  was 
carried  out  under  Mr  L.  N.  Cottingham,  who,  with  his 
son,  N.  J,  Cottingham,  was  responsible  for  the  works 
of  reparation  in  progress  between  1841  and  1852,  on 
the  exterior  of  the  Lady  Chapel  and  in  the  nave. 

Although  the  elder  Cottingham  did  much  to 
promote  the  revival  of  mediaeval  architecture,  he 
frequently  outran  discretion  in  restoring  and  refit- 
ting churches  entrusted  to  his  care — his  lately  (and 
happily)  removed  tower  of  Rochester  Cathedral,  and 
his  bouleversement  of  the  charming  old  Caroline 
furniture  in  Magdalen  College  Chapel,  Oxford,  being 
terrible  instances. 

His  original  works,  among  which  may  be  named 
the  almost  entire  rebuilding  of  Armagh  Cathedral, 
must  be  judged  leniently ;  and  he  certainly  did  good 
service  in  amassing  a  collection  of  specimens  of 
Gothic  carving  in  wood  and  stone,  which,  on  his 
death  in  1847,  was  partly  dispersed  and  partly 
utilised  as  the  nucleus  of  the  present  Architectural 
Museum  in  Tufton  Street.     The  younger  Cottingham 


2i6       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

perhaps  this  arrangement  was  a  loss ;  from  an 
antiquarian  point  of  view  it  was  an  error,  but  for 
practical  purposes  nothing  better  could  have  been 
devised.  The  introduction  of  that  gorgeous  metal 
screen  1  enriched  with  enamel  work  and  spar  bosses — 
the  work  of  Skidmore — was  a  comparative  novelty 
in  ecclesiastical  art,  and  although  not  of  a  type  that 
would  find  favour  nowadays,  is,  like  that  at  Lichfield, 
endowed  with  much  gracefulness  and  originality  of 
conception,  besides  the  interest  which  attaches  to  it 
as  being  one  of  the  earliest  pieces  of  orfevrerie  carried 
out  on  so  grand  a  scale  in  a  church  whether  at  home 
or  abroad  since  the  revival  of  religious  art. 

This  screen,  which  is  raised  upon  a  plinth  of 
polished  Devonshire  marble,  formed  an  interesting 
item  in  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1862,  the  Times 
of  29th  May  speaking  of  it  in  eulogistic  terms, 
instancing  the  seven  bronze  figures  as  perfect  studies 
in  themselves : — 

"  Everyone  can  understand  them  at  a  glance,  and 
from  the  centre  figure  of  Our  Saviour,  to  those  of 
the  praying  angels,  the  fulness  of  their  meaning  may 
be  felt  without  the  aid  of  any  inscription  beneath  the 
feet  to  set  forth  who  or  what  they  are." 

At  first  this  choir  -  screen  at  Hereford  seemed 
somewhat  loud  and  self-asserting  for  its  position, 
but  time  has  greatly  toned  it  down,  and  it  certainly 
harmonises  well  with  the  heavy  Norman  work  of  the 
choir. 

^  It  is  doubtful  indeed  whether  this  screen  does  not  go 
beyond  the  proper  scope  of  metal,  and  emulate  too  much  the 
peculiar  properties  of  stone ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  deny  the 
great  genius  displayed  in  its  conception  and  execution. 


HEREFORD  217 

The  reredos,  a  solid  screen  of  stone  and  marble,  of 
five  gabled  compartments,  containing  small  sculptured 
groups  by  Boulton,  stands  within  the  rich  Norman 
arch  which  divides  the  choir  and  procession  path. 
It  was  designed  by  the  younger  Cottingham,  and 
from  the  scale  of  the  building  necessarily  lacks 
height  and  dignity,  otherwise  it  is  commendable.  In 
Transitional  days  this  eastern  arch  was  partially 
filled  up  by  a  cylindrical  pillar  with  a  boldly  foliaged 
capital,  one  of  two  serving  to  carry  the  vaulting  of 
the  procession  path.  This  pillar  bore  a  spandrel 
which  had  the  effect  of  converting  the  Norman  arch 
that  I  have  alluded  to,  into  two  pointed  ones,  though 
their  supporting  pillar  stands  just  to  the  rear  of  and 
not  within  it.  Until  the  dismantling  of  the  choir 
under  the  Cottinghams,  this  graceful  feature  was 
hidden  behind  Bishop  Bisse's  ponderous  Grecian 
altar-piece,  and  when  discovered  the  spandrel  was 
plain.  Its  enrichment  being  thought  desirable,  it 
was  completely  covered  with  sculpture  representing 
the  Saviour  in  Majesty  within  a  vesica,  and  below 
Him,  within  a  niche,  Ethelbert,  while  the  remaining 
space  was  covered  with  angels  in  adoration  of  the 
Majesty,  and  small  quatrefoils  containing  the 
Evangelistic  Symbols.  The  general  effect  of  this 
piece  of  sculpture,  combined  with  the  charming  view 
into  the  exquisite  Early  English  Lady  Chapel,  is 
extremely  rich.  In  the  nave,  little  was  done  beyond 
a  thorough  repair  of  the  structure,  and  the  introduc- 
tion by  Cottingham  of  some  rather  too  pronounced 
leaf  painting  in  the  spandrels  of  the  vaulting,  no 
attempt  being  made  to  improve  upon  Wyatt's  miser- 
able triforium  and  clerestory.     The  eagle-lectern  by 


2i6        CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

perhaps  this  arrangement  was  a  loss ;  from  an 
antiquarian  point  of  view  it  was  an  error,  but  for 
practical  purposes  nothing  better  could  have  been 
devised.  The  introduction  of  that  gorgeous  metal 
screen  ^  enriched  with  enamel  work  and  spar  bosses — 
the  work  of  Skidmore — was  a  comparative  novelty 
in  ecclesiastical  art,  and  although  not  of  a  type  that 
would  find  favour  nowadays,  is,  like  that  at  Lichfield, 
endowed  with  much  gracefulness  and  originality  of 
conception,  besides  the  interest  which  attaches  to  it 
as  being  one  of  the  earliest  pieces  of  orf^vrerie  carried 
out  on  so  grand  a  scale  in  a  church  whether  at  home 
or  abroad  since  the  revival  of  religious  art. 

This  screen,  which  is  raised  upon  a  plinth  of 
polished  Devonshire  marble,  formed  an  interesting 
item  in  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1862,  the  Times 
of  29th  May  speaking  of  it  in  eulogistic  terms, 
instancing  the  seven  bronze  figures  as  perfect  studies 
in  themselves : — 

"  Everyone  can  understand  them  at  a  glance,  and 
from  the  centre  figure  of  Our  Saviour,  to  those  of 
the  praying  angels,  the  fulness  of  their  meaning  may 
be  felt  without  the  aid  of  any  inscription  beneath  the 
feet  to  set  forth  who  or  what  they  are." 

At  first  this  choir  -  screen  at  Hereford  seemed 
somewhat  loud  and  self-asserting  for  its  position, 
but  time  has  greatly  toned  it  down,  and  it  certainly 
harmonises  well  with  the  heavy  Norman  work  of  the 
choir. 

*  It  is  doubtful  indeed  whether  this  screen  does  not  go 
beyond  the  proper  scope  of  metal,  and  emulate  too  much  the 
peculiar  properties  of  stone  j  but  it  is  impossible  to  deny  the 
great  genius  displayed  in  its  conception  and  execution. 


HEREFORD  217 

The  reredos,  a  solid  screen  of  stone  and  marble,  of 
five  gabled  compartments,  containing  small  sculptured 
groups  by  Boulton,  stands  within  the  rich  Norman 
arch  which  divides  the  choir  and  procession  path. 
It  was  designed  by  the  younger  Cottingham,  and 
from  the  scale  of  the  building  necessarily  lacks 
height  and  dignity,  otherwise  it  is  commendable.  In 
Transitional  days  this  eastern  arch  was  partially 
filled  up  by  a  cylindrical  pillar  with  a  boldly  foliaged 
capital,  one  of  two  serving  to  carry  the  vaulting  of 
the  procession  path.  This  pillar  bore  a  spandrel 
which  had  the  effect  of  converting  the  Norman  arch 
that  I  have  alluded  to,  into  two  pointed  ones,  though 
their  supporting  pillar  stands  just  to  the  rear  of  and 
not  within  it.  Until  the  dismantling  of  the  choir 
under  the  Cottinghams,  this  graceful  feature  was 
hidden  behind  Bishop  Bisse's  ponderous  Grecian 
altar-piece,  and  when  discovered  the  spandrel  was 
plain.  Its  enrichment  being  thought  desirable,  it 
was  completely  covered  with  sculpture  representing 
the  Saviour  in  Majesty  within  a  vesica,  and  below 
Him,  within  a  niche,  Ethelbert,  while  the  remaining 
space  was  covered  with  angels  in  adoration  of  the 
Majesty,  and  small  quatrefoils  containing  the 
Evangelistic  Symbols.  The  general  effect  of  this 
piece  of  sculpture,  combined  with  the  charming  view 
into  the  exquisite  Early  English  Lady  Chapel,  is 
extremely  rich.  In  the  nave,  little  was  done  beyond 
a  thorough  repair  of  the  structure,  and  the  introduc- 
tion by  Cottingham  of  some  rather  too  pronounced 
leaf  painting  in  the  spandrels  of  the  vaulting,  no 
attempt  being  made  to  improve  upon  Wyatt's  miser- 
able triforium  and  clerestory.     The  eagle-lectern  by 


2i8       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

Potter,  from  a  design  by  Cottingham,  was  originally 
the  gift  of  the  Misses  Rushout — liberal  benefactors  to 
St  Michael's  College,  Tenbury. 

The  money,  however,  was  misappropriated,  and  the 
cost  was  eventually  defrayed  by  subscription  in  the 
diocese.  The  old  seventeenth-century  pulpit  still 
happily  remains,  being  located  against  the  north- 
western pier  of  the  tower.  The  gas  standards  lighting 
the  nave,  and  the  corona  lucis  pendant  from  the 
roof  of  the  crossing  are  from  Skidmore's  ateliers.  On 
the  evening  preceding  the  reopening  festival  the 
cathedral  was  experimentally  lighted  up,  the^ 
standards  in  the  various  parts  of  the  building, 
together  with  the  corona,  showing  the  lights  andl 
shadows  of  this  most  picturesque  of  our  minsters 
with  great  effect.  The  subdued  light  falling  on  the 
cross  which  surmounts  the  gable  of  the  choir-screen, 
has  been  described  as  peculiarly  beautiful. 

The  solemnities  of  the  opening  were  ushered  inj 
by  a  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion  at  eight 
o'clock.  It  was  choral  throughout,  being  sung  to 
the  music  of  Sir  Frederick  Gore  Ouseley  in  C,  for 
eight  voices,  the  composer  executing  his  office  of 
Precentor  throughout  the  day  in  person. 

This  truly  accomplished  and  naturally  gifted  man, 
who  became,  on  the  death  of  Dr  John  Jebb  in  1886, 
a  canon  residentiary,  is  perhaps  most  widely  remem- 
bered as  the  Founder  and  First  Warden  of  St 
Michael's  College  at  Old  Wood,  near  Tenbury  in 
Worcestershire,  where  in  1856,  from  the  designs  of 
the  late  Henry  Woodyer,  a  most  graceful  group  of 
buildings  that  has  been  described  as  the  chef  doeuvre 
of  an  architect  pre-eminently  capable  of  grasping  the 


HEREFORD  319 

spirit  of  the  Middle  Ages,  was  completed  for  the 
purpose  of  providing  a  high  class  education  for 
the  sons  of  clergy  and  gentlemen  of  moderate  means, 
together  with  the  maintenance  of  a  daily  choral 
service  of  the  highest  devotional  type.^  Although 
St  Michael's,  Tenbury,  is  only  one  of  those  numerous 
and  splendid  instances  of  wealth  ungrudgingly 
bestowed  by  the  sons  and  daughters  of  England's 
Church  to  make  her  beautiful,  within  the  last  seventy 
years,  it  is  an  almost  unique  one  in  which  a  Christian 
gentleman  has  devoted  his  remarkable  talents,  his 
personal  attention,  and  his  worldly  substance  to  her 
service  with  so  unstinted  a  hand.  The  founder  of 
St  Michael's  was  a  most  remarkable  personality.  His 
refined  knowledge,  profound  scholarship,  and  grasp  of 
every  phase  of  the  history,  science,  and  literature  of 
music  were  astonishing,  and  the  numerous  services 
and  anthems  with  which  he  enriched  our  ecclesi- 
astical repertoire  will  ever  remain  as  classics.  A  few 
years  before  the  reopening  of  Hereford  Cathedral, 
Sir  Frederick  had  written  that  marvellous  Service  in 

^  St  Michael's  College,  Tenbury,  has  given  several  musicians 
of  sterHng  merit  to  the  church,  among  them  being  Sir  John 
Stainer  (organist  from  1857  to  1859),  Langdon  Colbome, 
and  George  Robertson  Sinclair,  both  of  whom  became  organists 
of  Hereford  Cathedral.  Under  the  latter,  and  present  organist, 
the  organ  has  been  rebuilt  by  Willis. 

Sir  Frederick  Ouseley  died  suddenly  in  Hereford,  6th  April 
1889.  Singularly  enough,  the  Service  appointed  for  that  after- 
noon at  the  cathedral  was  his  own  in  B  minor. 

The  architectural  and  musical  history  of  St  Michael's, 
Tenbury,  together  with  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  the  Founder,  has 
been  fully  described  by  Mr  John  S.  Bumpus,  Hon.  Librarian  of 
the  College,  in  a  series  of  papers  contributed  to  the  Architect  of 
3rd,  10th,  17th,  and  24th  July  1903. 


220       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

C  for  a  double  choir ;  he  was  therefore  naturally 
anxious  that  so  solemn  an  occasion  should  be 
marked  by  a  sung  Eucharist,  and  that  an  early  one. 

Dean  Dawes,  however,  had  determined  that  there 
should  only  be  a  late,  and,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  plain 
celebration,  but  Ouseley,  knowing  accurately  the 
amount  of  constitutional  authority  he  possessed,  and 
as  all  the  musical  arrangements  depended  upon  his 
fiat,  his  simple  ultimatum  was  this,  "  Well,  Mr  Dean, 
if  you  won't  have  an  Early  Choral  Celebration,  you 
shall  not  have  a  note  of  music  all  day," 

The  Dean  wisely  yielded,  and  the  day's  proceedings 
began,  as  I  have  already  said,  with  the  church's 
highest  office  sung  throughout  to  its  proper  music. 

The  organ,  by  Renatus  Harris  (a  gift  of  King 
Charles  II.)  was  then  being  rebuilt  under  the  super- 
intendence of  Sir  Frederick  Ouseley  by  Gray  and 
Davison,  so  a  small  temporary  instrument,  placed 
under  one  of  the  arches  on  the  north  side  of  the 
choir,  was  used  on  this  occasion. 

At  eleven,  a  stately  service — despite  sundry  ritual 
inaccuracies — was  held,  the  Bishops  of  Tasmania, 
Oxford  (Wilberforce),  and  Hereford  (Hampden) 
closing  the  procession,  which,  numbering  eight 
hundred,  wound  round  the  cathedral,  from  the  Vicars 
College  to  the  west  door,  the  68th  Psalm  to  a  chant 
by  Rimbault — the  intonation  of  which  was  entrusted 
to  Frederick  Helmore  (brother  of  that  noble  pioneer  in 
the  revival  of  the  old  Plain  Song) — being  commenced 
as  soon  as  the  singers  had  entered  the  nave.  The 
effect  of  the  Te  Deum  and  Benedictus,  sung  to  the 
setting  in  C  by  Ouseley  already  alluded  to,  delivered 
as  it  was  by  so  great  a  number  of  trained  voices,  is 


HEREFORD  221 

described  as  having  been  uncommonly  grand.  At 
different  services  on  the  same  day,  several  anthems, 
written  for  the  occasion,  and  which  have  long  since 
become  established  favourites,  were  performed. 
One  was  Sir  Frederick  Ouseley's  "  Blessed  be  Thou  " ; 
another,  very  graceful  and  devotional,  was,  "  O  how 
amiable,"  by  the  then  organist  of  the  cathedral, 
Townshend  Smith  ;  and  a  third,  a  noble  full  anthem, 
set  chiefly  to  the  dedicatory  prayer  in  the  ninth 
chapter  of  Nehemiah,  "  Stand  up  and  bless  the  Lord," 
by  Sir  John  Goss. 

"  The  day,"  says  one  who  was  present,  "  was 
exceedingly  hot,  and  when  (at  the  subsequent 
collation)  Canon  Powell's  butler  poured  the  most 
delicious  sparkling  beverage  of  the  county  into 
champagne  glasses,  no  wine  could  have  been  so 
acceptable  to  the  guests  as  Herefordshire  perry." 

At  the  evening  service  the  sermon  was  preached 
by  Bishop  Wilberforce,  who  thus  records  the  day's 
proceedings  in  his  diary : — 

"  Up  early.  Communion  at  8  ;  fairly  attended,  but 
all  muddled  and  wrong  in  the  celebration.  Old 
Huntingford,  said  by  Ouseley  to  be  the  only  canon 
knowing  anything  of  ritual,  and  he  not  taking  part 
Bishop  (Hampden)  preached  a  dull  but  thoroughly 
orthodox  sermon.  Congregation  grand  ;  organ  too 
loud.  I  preached  evening ;  great  congregation  and 
much  interested." 

Anent  the  musical  associations  of  Hereford  it  would 
be  unpardonable  to  omit  mention  of  the  fact  that  this 
was  one  of  the  cathedral  organistships  successively 
held  by  Dr  S.  S.  Wesley— viz.  from  1832  to  1835. 

In    the    music    library  of   the   cathedral    is    an 


222        CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

interesting  organ  book,  containing  an  organ  part  of 
that  great  church  composer's  "  Wilderness,"  in  his  own 
handwriting.  The  same  volume  also  contains  his 
"  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father,"  and,  "  O  God, 
Whose  nature  and  property."  Other  organ  books 
have  autographs  of  C.  J.  Dare,  John  Hunt,  Clarke 
Whitfeld,  and  Townshend  Smith,  all  of  whom  have 
at  various  times  been  organists  of  this  very  musical 
cathedral. 

Since  that  most  interesting  and  auspicious  June 
day,  various  works  of  reparation  and  embellishment 
— which  it  were  tedious  to  particularise — have  been 
effected  in  Hereford  Cathedral,  culminating  quite 
recently  in  the  substitution  of  a  new  west  front — 
minus  the  tower — from  the  designs  of  Mr  John 
Oldrid  Scott,  for  Wyatt's  feeble  perpetration.  It  has 
been  carried  out  in  the  Decorated  style,  and,  together 
with  the  stained  glass  in  its  seven-light  window — a 
splendid  piece  of  work  by  Clayton  and  Bell  in  which 
small  canopied  figures  of  British  saints  play  a  con- 
spicuous part — commemorates  the  Diamond  Jubilee 
of  Her  late  Majesty,  whose  effigy,  crowned  and 
vested  in  the  cope  as  worn  at  her  coronation,  occupies 
the  bottom  of  the  central  light. 


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CHAPTER  VIII 


CHICHESTER 


England  can  boast  of  many  cathedrals,  loftier, 
larger,  more  grandiose,  and  more  abundant  in  fine 
detail,  but  few  more  graceful  and  harmonious  than 
queenly  Chichester,  from  whom  the  oft-recurring 
village  church  of  the  locality  learned  its  lore,  and 
borrowed  its  peculiar  features. 

The  characteristics  of  Chichester  Cathedral  may  be 
summed  up  as  consisting  of  its  harmony  of  external 
colouring ;  the  due  proportions  between  its  tower 
and  spire ;  their  exactly  central  position ;  the 
pyramidal  grouping  of  its  several  parts ;  the  trip- 
licity  impressed  on  its  details,  so  appropriate  to  its 
dedication  in  honour  of  the  Blessed  Trinity;  its 
flamboyantly  traceried  south  transept  window ;  and 
the  several  monuments  with  which  the  genius  of 
Flaxman  has  enriched  the  double  aisles  of  its  nave. 

Rather  small  in  the  extent  of  its  four  arms — 
though  spread  out  to  a  great  length  owing  to  the 
large  eastern  Lady  Chapel  —  Chichester  Cathedral 
recovers  its  dignity  by  its  great  proportionate  height ; 

223 


224       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

while  in  its  delightful  blending  of  severe  massive 
Norman  with  the  pure  and  graceful  beginnings  of 
Early  English,  the  whole  church  cannot  fail  to  impress 
the  most  unobservant,  as  a  beautiful  and  lovable  one. 

The  foundation  of  Chichester  Cathedral  is  due  to 
Bishop  Ralph  LuiTa,  or,  as  he  is  styled,  Ralph  the 
First,  shortly  after  the  accession  of  Henry  L,  and 
large  portions  of  his  work  remain  to  this  day,  though 
a  great  deal  of  it  is  almost  invisible,  being  embedded 
in  the  new  facings  and  additions  with  which,  in  later 
alterations,  it  has  been  overlaid  and  surrounded. 

The  arcades  and  triforium  remain  as  they  were  in 
Ralph's  time — i.e.,  between  1 1 14  and  1 123 — but  during 
the  episcopate  of  Seffrid  H.,  which  lasted  from  11 80 
to  1204,  the  period  when  the  pointed  arch  was 
quietly  but  unmistakably  supplanting  the  round, 
Ralph's  church  was  so  much  injured  by  fire  as  to 
necessitate  extensive  repairs  and  additions,  a  work 
to  which  that  prelate  devoted  all  his  energies  and 
resources  to  accomplish. 

Seffrid's  work  of  reparation,  which  consisted  chiefly 
of  the  clerestory  and  the  substitution  of  a  vaulted 
roof  for  the  wooden  one  that  had  caused  such 
mischief,  was  carried  out  with  admirable  completeness, 
yet  economy.  For  the  period  that  witnessed  these 
works  exactly  coincides  with  the  reign  of  Richard  I., 
when  heavy  calls  were  made  on  the  whole  nation, 
and  especially  the  clergy,  for  money,  first  to  support 
the  king's  foreign  wars,  and  afterwards  to  ransom 
him  from  captivity.  Neither  was  there  any  shrine, 
as  at  Canterbury,  into  which  devotees  poured  their 
offerings  with  prodigal  enthusiasm  to  aid  the  work 
here. 


CHICHESTER  225 

Bishop  Ralph's  church  terminated,  like  most  build- 
ings of  its  age,  in  an  apse  with  radiating  chapels,  but 
these  were  so  injured  by  the  fire  in  11 87  as  to  need 
almost  entire  removal.  Perhaps  this  was  a  matter  of 
rejoicing,  for  in  the  two  bays,  east  of  the  altar-screen, 
we  have  a  specimen  of  that  masterly  skill,  and  that 
genius  in  designing  new  forms  with  which  the 
mediaeval  builders,  and  particularly  those  of  the  latter 
part  of  the  twelfth  century,  were  so  eminently  gifted. 
This  extension  of  the  choir  at  Chichester  ranks 
perhaps  as  one  of  the  most  exquisite  works  of  the 
Transition  period,  when  the  massivenesss  of  the 
Norman  was  gradually  yielding  to  the  elegance  of 
the  Early  English. 

Although  in  the  contemporary  choir  of  St  Hugh 
at  Lincoln  the  pointed  arch  reigns  supreme,  and  no 
trace  of  Romanesque  is  visible,  the  pier  arches 
in  Chichester  retrochoir  are  still  circular,  not  because 
the  use  of  the  pointed  arch  was  not  understood — for 
that  opening  into  the  Lady  Chapel  is  pointed — but 
because  it  was  felt  desirable  to  keep  their  heads  in 
a  line  with  those  of  the  choir. 

Perhaps  had  the  space  to  be  enclosed  been  a  little 
longer,  so  as  to  have  been  divided  into  narrower 
severies,  pointed  arches  would  have  been  employed. 
In  this  case  the  architect  adopted  whichever  of  the 
two  forms  suited  his  immediate  purpose  best ;  anyway, 
as  I  have  already  observed,  these  two  Transitional 
bays  at  Chichester  are,  of  their  period,  unrivalled  for 
grace.  The  arches  are  most  richly  moulded,  but  the 
columns — detached  single  shafts  of  Purbeck  marble, 
clustered  yet  insulated  round  their  central  piers, 
with  bold  foliage  recalling  the  Corinthian  of  olden 

P 


226       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

days — have  found  few  imitators,  and  may  thus  be 
considered  the  most  uniquely  beautiful  specimens 
of  their  class. 

The  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  particularly 
during  Bishop  Ralph's  episcopate  (1224-44)  was  a 
period  of  much  architectural  activity  at  Chichester. 
To  this  epoch  must  be  assigned  not  only  the  central 
tower — I  speak,  of  course,  of  the  one  that  fell  in 
1 861 — from  the  crown  of  the  four  great  Norman 
arches  to  the  corbel  table  below  the  battlements, 
but  the  upper  part  of  the  south-western  one ;  the 
graceful  western  porch  and  entrance  from  the 
cloisters  ;  and  the  broadening  of  the  nave  by  cutting 
through  the  wall  of  its  south  aisle  to  provide 
additional  room  for  chantries,  one  of  which  is  said 
to  have  been  Ralph's  gift  to  his  church. 

By  this  means  two  handsome  side  chapels  were 
formed,  and  subsequently  the  like  process  was 
carried  out  on  the  north  side,  where  a  pier  can 
be  seen  that  is  a  perfect  museum  of  masonry.  In 
its  centre  it  is  of  the  original  Norman  work  ;  against 
this  on  either  side  are  built  up  portions  of  the  second 
period,  and  without-side  these  are  pilasters  of  a 
third  time. 

Partition  walls  divided  each  of  these  nave  chapels, 
each  furnished  with  its  altar,  piscina,  and  credence, 
of  some  of  which  traces  are  still  visible.  With  the 
suppression  of  chantries  came  the  removal  of  the 
party  walls,  and  the  whole  set  of  chapels  on  either 
side  being  thrown  together  gives  the  idea  of 
additional  aisles  to  the  nave,  so  that  Chichester 
Cathedral  is  often,  though  erroneously,  said  to  have 
five  aisles. 


CHICHESTER  227 

At  any  rate,  it  has  the  greatest  width  —  York 
excepted  —  of  any  English  cathedral,  being  91  feet 
in  the  clear. 

The  effect  of  these  additional  aisles  at  Chichester 
cannot,  of  course,  compare  with  that  produced  at 
Bourges,  Paris,  Troyes  and  other  great  Continental 
five-  and  seven-aisled  churches,  but  their  exquisite 
Early  English  character  confers  an  unusual  pictur- 
esqueness  upon  the  interior,  when  viewed  diagonally 
across  the  nave.  It  is  pleasing  to  chronicle  that 
of  late  years  one  of  the  southern  chapels  has  been 
restored  to  its  former  use  in  a  very  charming, 
subdued,  and  devotional  manner,  the  only  regret- 
table feature  in  this  part  of  the  cathedral  being  the 
stained  glass,  which  was  inserted  at  different  times 
and  by  different  artists  between  1850  and  1870, 
with  the  usual  infelicitous  result  arising  from  want 
of  uniformity. 

In  the  southern  and  earlier  aisle  the  windows 
are  of  the  plate-traceried  kind  :  that  is  to  say,  they 
are  composed  of  two  large  lancets  with  a  quatrefoil 
above  them,  all  seemingly  pierced  in  a  stone  slab ; 
while  in  the  northern  range  they  are  formed  of 
three  uncusped  lights  and  traceried  with  three  circles, 
good  types  of  the  Transition  from  Early  English  to 
Decorated.  All  this  tracery  is,  however,  a  restoration 
of  Richard  Carpenter's,  who  doubtless  had  sufficient 
indications  to  guide  him  in  the  matter.  Before  this, 
the  tracery  here  was  of  a  debased  character. 

Pursuing  the  thread  of  our  architectural  history 
of  this  graceful  Cathedral  we  come  to  the  Lady 
Chapel,  which  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  most 
elongated,  in   this   position,  in   England,  being   five 


228       CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

bays  in  length,  one  of  which,  however,  is  covered 
by  the  extension  of  the  choir-aisles. 

It  was  mainly  the  work  of  Bishop  Gilbert  de 
Sancto  Leofardo,  who,  before  his  elevation  to  the 
See  of  Chichester  in  1288,  had  been  for  six  years 
treasurer  to  the  Cathedral.  Of  the  existing  Lady 
Chapel  the  three  first  compartments  are  partly  of 
Bishop  Seffrid  II.'s  late  twelfth-century  work,  and 
partly  of  that  Lady  Chapel  which  once  opened  out 
of  the  apse  of  the  old  Norman  choir,  and  which 
survived,  both  the  fire  of  11 86,  and  the  changes 
made  when  the  Chapter  ventured  on  that  little  piece 
of  extravagance,  the  Transitional  retrochoir  already 
alluded  to.  Bishop  Gilbert  removed  the  original  east 
end  of  this  older  Lady  Chapel,  but  left  the  side 
walls.  He  then  added  two  more  bays  to  the  exist- 
ing work  in  the  exquisite  Geometrical  Decorated 
style  then  prevalent,  altered  the  original  fenestration 
of  the  Norman  portion  to  correspond  with  that  of 
his  two  new  bays,  and  thus  bequeathed  to  us  a 
building,  whose  original  beauty  has  been  enhanced 
by  that  restoration  in  memory  of  the  sixty-ninth 
occupant  of  the  See  since  the  Conquest,  a  prelate 
no  less  honoured  and  revered  than  his  thirteenth- 
century  namesake. 

Bishop  John  of  Langton  occupied  the  See  from 
1305  to  1337  when  English  church  architecture  had 
reached  its  zenith.  To  him  we  are  indebted,  inter 
alia,  for  the  great  window  of  the  south  transept,  a 
curious  combination  of  a  Geometrical  skeleton  filled 
up  with  Flowing  detail,  which,  although  inferior  in 
dimensions  to  those  vast  walls  of  glass  at  the  west 
end  of  York  and  the  east  ends  of  Carlisle  and  Selby, 


W  Q 


CHICHESTER  229 

is  very  grand  and  harmonious  in  effect — the  intro- 
duction of  octofoils  and  a  triple  repetition  of  the 
vesica  within  a  spherical  triangle  being  a  remarkable 
feature. 

The  general  appearance  of  this  magnificent 
window  is  much  impaired  by  the  painted  glass,  of 
which  the  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  it  came 
into  the  church  about  the  year  1877  by  way  of  gift. 
Twenty  years  before,  Messrs  Clayton  and  Bell  had 
drawn  up  a  masterly  design  for  filling  this  window 
with  stained  glass,  and  it  is  to  be  deplored  that 
the  subject  —  a  Te  Deum — should  have  been  set 
aside  in  favour  of  the  present  insipid  scheme  of 
iconography. 

The  Perpendicular  period  gave  us  the  cloisters 
which  lie  along  the  south  side  of  the  cathedral  and 
form  an  irregular  but  very  picturesque  parallelogram, 
the  western  walk  being  two  bays  shorter  than  the 
eastern  one.  The  former  has  its  entrance  to  the 
church  in  the  fifth  bay  of  the  nave,  the  latter  in 
the  fifth  bay  of  the  choir.  The  south  walk  is  of 
unusual  length,  having  twelve  fenestriform  openings, 
and  slopes  off  to  the  south.  This  obliquity  has 
its  advantage,  for  from  the  south-east  angle  a  most 
beautiful  and  comprehensive  view  of  the  cathedral 
can  be  had — illustrating  as  it  does  Michael  Angelo's 
most    perfect    outline,    the    pyramid.^      The    same 

*  Of  the  Chapter-house  there  are  no  traces  in  the  customary 
place,  viz. :  the  eastern  walk  of  the  cloisters.  The  late  Arch- 
deacon Freeman,  who  devoted  great  attention  to  Chichester 
Cathedral,  had  a  theory  that  the  square  Romanesque  apartment 
opening  out  of  the  north  transept  with  a  central  pillar  was  the 
original  Chapter-house,  but  I  merely  record  this  view  without 
committing  myself  for  or  against  it- 


230       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

period  has  also  left  its  impress  on  other  portions, 
such  as  the  windows  of  the  north  choir-aisle,  which 
are  good  and  graceful  ones  of  their  age. 

As  quaint  old  Thomas  Fuller  observes — "Seffrid 
bestowed  the  cloth  and  making  on  the  church, 
whilst  Bishop  Sherburne  gave  the  trimming  and  lace 
thereof." 

Robert  Sherburne,  who  ruled  the  See  from  1 508  to 
1536,  was,  like  West  at  Ely  and  Fox  at  Winchester, 
a  good  type  of  the  better  sort  of  prelate  still  to  be 
found  at  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation  —  an  age 
when  the  chain  of  that  power,  which  the  Church 
of  England  possessed  over  men's  hearts  and  minds, 
was  snapping,  link  by  link,  through  the  increase 
of  pomp,  wealth,  and  secular  kind  of  grandeur  of 
her  clergy.  Not  only  to  his  diocese  in  general, 
but  to  his  cathedral  in  particular,  was  Sherburne 
a  great  benefactor,  for,  to  quote  again  from  Fuller, 
"  he  decored  it  with  many  ornaments." 

To  Sherburne  we  owe  the  present  altar-screen 
and  choir-stalls.  The  latter  were  partly  crushed 
by  the  fall  of  the  spire  in  1861,  but  were  repaired 
after  that  disaster  or  replaced  by  new  ones  after 
the  old  design.  He  also  caused  the  vaulting 
throughout  the  church  to  be  embellished  with 
paintings  in  arabesque  of  the  most  delicate  and 
intricate  patterns  by  an  Italian  artist,  Lamberti 
Bernardi,  who,  with  his  two  sons,  seem  to  have 
been  special /r^/^^/.f  of  the  Bishop. 

But,  horribile  dictu,  about  the  year  18 17,  some 
fiend  in  human  form  contrived,  by  an  untoward 
chain  of  circumstances,  to  gain  sufficient  influence 
with   his   brethren    in   the   Chapter   to   induce   that 


CHICHESTER  231 

body  to  whitewash  the  roofs,  and  to  yellow-ochre 
the  ribs  and  all  the  lines  of  the  building  which 
were  in  relief  Fortunately  we  are  able  to  form 
some  idea  of  what  this  "lace-work"  of  Bishop 
Sherburne  was  like,  from  the  drawings  made  of  it 
by  Mr  Thomas  King,  a  local  antiquary  of  repute, 
now  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  Prebendary 
Bennett,  as  well  as  from  such  fragments  as  are 
still  discoverable  in  the  vaulting  of  the  Lady  Chapel, 
in  the  arch  opening  from  the  present  library  to  the 
transept,  and  one  or  two  other  slight  remains. 

Bernardi  likewise  executed  those  two  large  oil- 
paintings  on  wood  (about  12  feet  high  by  8  feet 
wide),  now  placed  at  the  back  of  the  choir-stalls  in 
the  south  transept,  and  representing  Ceadwalla  and 
Henry  VHI.  granting  and  confirming  privileges  to 
the  bishops  of  their  day.  In  the  opposite  transept 
is  another  large  picture  with  imaginary  portraits  of 
bishops  of  Chichester,  from  Wilfrid  to  Sherburne, 
by  the  same  hand.  There  is  a  striking  family 
likeness  in  these  portraits ! 

Passing  with  swift  foot  over  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  with  their  sad  tales  of  sacrilege 
and  devastation  ;  well-meant,  but  not  always  judicious, 
attempts  to  repair  the  damage ;  obliteration  of  roof- 
paintings,  and  disfigurements  by  the  erection  of  pews 
and  galleries  in  divers  parts  of  the  choir,  until  its 
natural  beauties  must  have  been  well-nigh  hidden 
beneath  these  monstrous  erections — we  reach  the 
year  1839  and  appointment  to  the  Deanery  of  Dr 
Chandler,  who,  within  three  years  after  his  installa- 
tion, set  on  foot  the  restoration  of  the  cathedral  to 
something  of  its  former  beauty. 


232        CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

To  Dr  Chandler,  not  only  Chichester  Cathedral  but 
Anglo-Catholic  art  generally,  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude ; 
for  when  the  Cambridge  Camden  Society  was  com- 
pelled by  circumstances  to  quit  the  town  of  its  birth, 
and  in  the  face  of  much  casual  unpopularity  to  seek 
a  new  name  in  London,  the  excellent  Dean — then 
Rector  of  All  Souls,  Marylebone — as  Vice-President 
of  the  Society,  gave  a  helping  hand  to  that  struggling 
body.  These  early  ameliorations  consisted  chiefly 
in  cleansing  the  walls,  pillars  and  roof  of  the  white- 
wash with  which  they  had  been  so  plentifully  coated 
during  the  dear  old  soporific  and  BcEotian  Georgian 
period,  and  in  the  insertion  of  several  stained  glass 
windows  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  building. 

This  latter  improvement  was  due  in  a  great 
measure  to  a  suggestion  thrown  out  by  Mr  J.  H. 
Markland  in  an  enlarged  edition  of  his  valuable 
little  work,  "Remarks  on  English  Churches,  and  on 
the  Expediency  of  Rendering  Sepulchral  Memorials 
Subservient  to  Pious  and  Christian  Uses,"^  in 
which  he  advocated  the  introduction  of  painted 
windows  as  memorials,  in  lieu  of  the  wretched  semi- 
pagan  and   pseudo-Gothic   tablets   at   that   time   so 

^  It  appeared  originally  in  1840  under  the  title  "Remarks  on 
Sepulchral  Memorials,  with  Suggestions  for  Improving  the 
Condition  of  Our  Churches."  On  the  death  of  the  author  in 
1864,  the  first  window,  west  of  the  transept,  in  the  Abbey  Church 
at  Bath,  where  he  was  long  resident,  was  filled  with  stained 
glass  by  a  number  of  friends,  headed  by  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  and 
Mr  Joseph  Clarke  (architect,  inter  alia,  of  the  very  pretty  little 
chapel  of  the  House  of  Charity  in  Soho),  thus  honouring  one 
who  was  not  only  among  the  most  zealous  pioneers  in  the  revival 
of  a  true  feeling  for  the  decent  adornment  of  our  churches,  but 
the  originator  of  memorials  of  this  description. 


CHICHESTER  233 

universally  adopted,  to  the  disfigfurement  of  our 
churches.  One  of  the  first  windows  of  this  kind 
was  set  up  in  Chichester  Cathedral  at  the  east  end 
of  the  south  choir-aisle,  "  In  Memoriam  Mariae 
Chandler,  piae  beneficse  1841,"  and  represented,  in 
six  small  groups,  the  corporal  works  of  Mercy,  but 
a  few  years  ago  it  was  removed,  on  the  substitu- 
tion of  one  of  modem  manufacture,  and  inserted  in 
the  south  aisle  of  the  Sub-Deanery  Church  hard 
by.  It  was  one  of  Wailes'  earliest  productions, 
and  if  not  of  a  very  high  order  of  artistic  merit, 
was  interesting  from  the  circumstances  that  environed 
its  execution. 

Other  stained  glass  by  Wailes,  Willement,  and 
Ward  and  Nixon  followed,  the  first-named  execut- 
ing the  window  above  the  entrance  to  the  cloisters 
from  the  retrochoir.  It  represents  the  Martyrdom  of 
St  Stephen,  and  was  given  in  memory  of  his  wife 
by  Cardinal  Manning,  who,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  Archdeacon  of  Chichester  from  1840  till  his 
secession  from  the  church  on  Passion  Sunday, 
6th  April  185 1. 

For  many  years  Chichester  Cathedral  had  a  most 
intelligent  cicerone  in  Charles  Crocker,  who  filled  the 
office  of  Bishop's  Verger  from  1845  to  1861.  Self- 
educated,  Crocker  compiled  an  excellent  Guide  to 
the  cathedral,  which  has  formed  the  basis  of  succes- 
sive editions,  and  was,  moreover,  a  poet  of  no  mean 
ability,  his  sonnet  "To  the  British  Oak,"  published 
in  1830  in  a  volume  entitled  The  Vale  of  Obscurity ^ 
the  Lavant^  and  other  Poems,  attracting  the  notice 
of  Wordsworth,  who  remarked  that  it  was  as  good 
as  anything  of  the  kind  in  the  English  language. 


234       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

Another  sonnet  in  the  same  collection,  "Sacred 
Music,"  occasioned  by  hearing  the  Choir  Service  in 
Chichester  Cathedral,  deserves  quotation  :  — 

"  If  there  be  aught  on  earth  that  can  unsphere 

The  raptur'd  spirit  from  its  clayey  cell, 
Raise  it  from  pain  and  sorrow,  doubt  and  fear, 

Above  mortality  awhile  to  dwell, 
And  taste  angelic  joys, — that  powerful  spell 

In  sacred  music  breathes. — How  grand  e'en  now. 
Along  these  aisles  the  Anthem's  full  tones  swell. 

Loud  as  the  tempest's  voice — now  sinking  low, 
Like  summer  evening  breezes,  soft  and  faint ; 

Such  strains  as  solace  the  expiring  saint. 
Or  lull  the  storm  in  reckless  Passion's  breast. 

How  oft  within  these  hallow'd  walls  my  mind 
Hath  Truth's  high  power,  and  Music's  charms  confest. 

And  mid  life's  cares  rejoic'd  such  bliss  to  find." 

Another  very  pleasing  sonnet  of  Crocker's  is  that 
on  Thomas  Kelway,  organist  of  the  cathedral  from 
1733  to  1747,  and  who  has  enriched  our  library  of 
church  music  with  several  fine  services  and  anthems. 
His  evening  services  in  B  minor,  A  minor  and  G 
minor  and  his  anthems,  "  Not  unto  us,"  and  "  Unto 
Thee,  O  Lord,"  are  still  in  frequent  use.  Kelway 
died  at  Chichester  in  1749,  and  was  buried  in  the 
south  aisle  of  the  cathedral. 

For  many  years  his  gravestone  was  lost  sight  of, 
but  in  1846  it  was  discovered  and  replaced,  and 
the  inscription  recut.  It  was  this  circumstance  that 
gave  birth  to  Crocker's  sonnet  in  which  the  follow- 
ing passage  occurs :  — 

"His  strains  full  oft — still  fall  upon  the  ear 
Of  those  who  tread  yon  aisle,  while,  at  their  feet. 
His  name  and  record  of  his  hope  appear." 


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CHICHESTER  235 

It  was  about  1847  that  Dean  Chandler  called  in 
Richard  Carpenter,  who  had  already  given  proof  of 
his  abilities,  not  only  in  the  churches  of  St  Andrew 
and  St  Stephen,  Birmingham,  but  by  the  beautiful 

,  plans  which  he  had  prepared  for  the  restoration  and 
refitting  of  St  Patrick's  Cathedral,  Dublin,  as  consult- 
ing architect  to  the  cathedral  which  he  so  dearly 
loved,   and   whose  architectural    beauties   he    never 

j  tired  of  pointing  out  to  the  visitor. 

Carpenter's  work  consisted  chiefly  in  care  for  the 

;  general  stability  of  the  structure,  and  in  the  rehabili- 
tation of  tracery  to  several  windows,  notably  to  the 
upper  of  the  two  great  western  ones  which  a  debased 

;  era  had  endowed  with  work  that  could  only  be 
compared  to  a  stone  grating.^  For  this,  Carpenter 
substituted  the  graceful  flowing  Decorated  tracery 
we  now  see,  and  about  the  same  time  (1849)  this 
window,  as  well  as  the  triplet  of  Early  English 
lancets  below  it,  was  filled  with  stained  glass  by 
Wailes,  of  great  richness  and  brilliancy  of  tincture, 
in  the  archaic  style  prevalent  at  that  epoch  of  the 

j  revival. 

I  The  glass  in  the  upper  tier  forms  a  testimonial  to 
Dean  Chandler  from  the  parishioners  of  All  Souls, 
Marylebone,  on  his  resignation  of  that  living  in 
consequence  of  age  and  infirmity. 

To  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  grammar  of  his 
art.  Carpenter  added  great  skill  in  general  arrange- 
ment. His  eye  for  colour  was  exquisite,  an  excellence 
produced  by  the  harmony  of  his  disposition,  and  in 
which    he  was    safer    and    more   equable   than    his 

*  See  the  view  given  in  "  Winkles'  Cathedrals." 


236       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

great  contemporary,  Pugin,  whose  friendship  he  was 
fortunate  enough  to  secure,  to  the  encouragement  of 
their  common  zeal  for  the  revival  of  mediaeval 
architecture.  To  painted  glass  Carpenter  paid  much 
attention,  directly  superintending  its  execution  on  a 
footing  very  similar  to  Pugin's  products  of  the 
Hardman  atelier.  Mr  J.  R.  Clayton  (of  the  firm  of 
Clayton  and  Bell,  and  who  is  happily  still  with  us) 
was  the  cartoonist  whom  he  trained,  while  the 
mechanical  part,  entrusted  to  Messrs  Ward  and  Nixon, 
was  attended  with  much  success.  Considering  the 
large  field  of  operations  which  his  skill  and  knowledge 
embraced.  Carpenter's  minute  attention  to  every 
drawing  and  detail  emanating  from  his  office  was 
not  the  least  important  point  in  his  character ;  indeed, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  such  laborious  and 
zealous  applications  tended  to  hasten  his  death,  which 
occurred  27th  March  1855.  Only  two  days  later  he 
was  followed  to  the  grave  by  another  friend  and 
fellow-labourer  in  the  same  cause,  James  Rattee,  who, 
with  the  true  inspiration  of  the  ancient  craftsmen, 
carried  out  Sir  Gilbert  Scott's  designs  for  the  choir- 
screen,  stalls,  organ-case,  and  restored  tomb  of 
Bishop  de  Luda  in  Ely  Cathedral,  as  well  as  those 
for  Pugin  in  the  restored  chapel  of  Jesus  College, 
Cambridge. 

It  would  be  impossible  in  this  place  to  give  an 
extended  list  of  the  works — far  too  many  for  his 
short  life — of  Richard  Carpenter,  but  I  cannot  omit 
mention  altogether  of  such  churches  as  St  Mary 
Magdalene,  Munster  Square,  Regent's  Park  (where 
the  west  window,  designed  and  executed  by  his 
old  pupil  Mr  Clayton,  forms  a   memorial   to  him), 


CHICHESTER  237 

St  Peter's  (or  the  Sub-Deanery  Church),  Chichester, 
St  Paul's  and  All  Saints,  Brighton,  St  Nicholas, 
Kemerton,  and  St  John  Baptist,  Bovey  Tracey.  His 
restorations  of  St  Margaret's,  Leicester,  St  Nicholas, 
Old  Shoreham,  St  John  Baptist,  Little  Maplestead, 
All  Saints,  Maidstone,  and  Sherborne  Minster,  were 
carried  out  with  great  taste  and  judgment.  He  had 
likewise  prepared  plans  of  great  beauty  and  com- 
pleteness for  the  restoration  of  St  Patrick's  Cathedral, 
Dublin,  but  they  were  unfortunately  laid  aside  in 
favour  of  very  questionable  amateur  achievements. 
Two  of  his  greatest  original  works,  the  Collies  of 
SS.  Mary  and  Nicholas  at  Lancing,  and  St  John, 
Hurstpierpoint,  were  not  completed  till  after  his 
death. 

Dean  Chandler  was  not  permitted  to  see  the 
commencement  of  that  magnum  opus  at  Chichester 
Cathedral,  the  restoration  of  the  choir.  But  his 
legacy  of  ^^"2000  stimulated  the  work,  and  the  year 
1859  saw  the  undertaking  set  on  foot  under  his 
successor  Dr  Hook. 

Until  then  the  choir  was  separated  from  the  nave 
at  the  western  arch  of  the  crossing  by  a  stone  screen 
of  little  merit,  commonly  called  the  Arundel  Shrine, 
and  upon  which  stood  the  organ.  It  had  been  pewed 
and  galleried  "  to  the  enth,"  and  the  removal  of  these 
obtrusive  fittings  revealed  the  reckless  manner  in 
which  the  building  had  been  dealt  with  in  order 
to  accommodate  them.  Vaulting  shafts,  originally 
continued  from  the  groined  ceilings,  had  been  cut 
through  and  terminated  with  mock  corbels,  in  order 
to  make  way  for  a  skirting  board ;  here  a  moulded 
base  had  been  mutilated  ;  a  third,  proving  intractable, 


238       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

had  actually  been  excavated  from  the  massive  pier 
leaving  a  large  vacuity  behind,  as  the  readiest  mode 
of  clearing  away  the  stubborn  Purbeck  block.  Pend- 
ing the  restoration  of  the  choir,  the  seven  western  bays 
of  the  nave  were  partitioned  off  by  a  plastered  frame- 
work reaching  from  floor  to  vault,  against  which 
the  altar,  with  its  dossal  and  furniture,  temporary 
choir-stalls,  etc.,  were  arranged.  It  was  resolved  to 
throw  open  the  choir  to  the  nave  by  the  removal 
of  the  Arundel  Shrine.  This  was  accordingly  done 
in  the  course  of  i860,  and  the  works  in  the  choir 
were  in  the  full  flow  of  progress  when  they  were 
stopped  by  the  fall  of  the  spire  on  21st  February  1861, 
during  a  violent  storm  that  did  much  damage  to 
property  on  land  and  sea.  The  catastrophe  occurred 
shortly  after  noon  when  the  workmen,  who  had  been 
almost  ceaselessly  engaged  in  shoring  up  the  tower, 
were  at  dinner,  falling  to  pieces  almost  on  its  own 
base,  and  sinking,  spectators  said,  into  the  body  of 
the  cathedral  like  a  large  ship  foundering  quietly  at 
sea.  Professor  Willis,  on  hearing  of  the  disaster,  in 
which  fortunately  no  one  was  injured,  hurried  down 
to  Chichester,  lost  no  time  in  investigating  the  ruins, 
and,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  gave 
the  result  of  his  inspection  in  a  lecture  on  1 8th  March, 
in  which  he  proved,  with  all  his  habitual  cleverness 
and  fulness  of  demonstration,  that  the  evil  had  been 
growing  for  centuries,  illustrating  his  theme  by  the 
fate  of  many  other  steeples  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
Of  course,  as  soon  as  the  catastrophe  happened, 
opinion  was  rife,  and  for  want  of  any  other  victim, 
the  indefatigable  exertions  of  Mr  Slater,  the  architect 
— the  pupil  and  successor  of  Carpenter,  and  to  whom 


CHICHESTER  239 

the  renovation  of  the  choir  had  been  entrusted — were 
entirely  overlooked,  such  inconsistent  charges  being 
pressed  against  him  as  the  removal  of  the  organ- 
screen,  which,  however,  had  been  proved  by  Professor 
Willis  to  merely  touch  without  morticing  into  the 
tower  piers,  and  therefore  could  have  no  share  in 
sustaining  the  steeple. 

Several  circumstances  contributed  to  its  downfall. 
One  was  the  reckless  engineering  of  an  age  which 
could  pile  a  thirteenth  -  century  tower  and  a  four- 
teenth-century spire  on  to  the  rubble-cased  piers  of 
a  Romanesque  lantern.  Another  was  the  cutting 
away  of  the  lower  portions  of  the  north  and  south 
west  piers  by  Bishop  Sherburne  for  the  construction 
of  his  sixteenth-century  stalls,  so  that  the  superin- 
cumbent mass  of  masonry  literally  remained  propped 
up  by  some  pieces  of  timber — a  frightful  state  of 
things  that,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  was  only 
revealed  on  denuding  the  choir  of  its  fittings  pre- 
paratory to  restoration.  Professor  Willis  believed 
that  the  spire  of  Chichester  Cathedral  had  been 
!  suspended  over  the  heads  of  its  congregation  for 
centuries,  only  wanting  some  concussions  to  bring  it 
down,  and,  moreover,  stated  that  all  the  precautions 
that  had  been  taken  to  shore  it  up,  were,  notwith- 
standing their  praiseworthiness,  totally  futile.  It 
i  is  needless  to  recapitulate  here,  how  triumphantly 
j  those  in  charge  of  the  cathedral  were  proved  not  only 
guiltless,  but  worthy  of  all  praise,  for  their  carefulness, 
which  was  not  less  commendable  because  it  failed  to 
avert  the  catastrophe. 

Contributions  for  the  rehabilitation  of  the  steeple 
flowed  in,  and  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  who  was  called  on 


240       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

for  this  special  work,  performed  the  task  with  equal 
skill  and  good  taste,  having  associated  Mr  Slater 
with  himself  in  its  performance.  In  1866  Chichester 
was  again  in  possession  of  its  steeple  restored  in 
facsimile,  and,  it  may  be  said,  improved  by  the  lifting 
of  the  tower  a  little  above  the  roofs,  with  Norman 
piers  of  great  stability.  Early  English  tower,  and  Late 
Decorated  spire  twice  banded,  gladdening  the  eyes 
of  the  citizens,  the  shepherd  on  the  Downs,  and  the 
homeward-bound  sailor.  Owing  to  the  catastrophe 
of  1 86 1  the  works  of  restoration  in  the  choir  were 
brought  to  a  standstill,  and  for  a  time  nothing  was 
thought  of  but  how  to  reinstate  the  spire. 

Then  the  broken  thread  was  taken  up  again, 
and  Messrs  Slater  and  Carpenter  (son  of  Richard 
Carpenter)  pushed  on  that  internal  restoration  of 
which  Dean  Chandler  had  made  so  good  a  com- 
mencement, and  towards  which  he  had  bequeathed 
so  liberally. 

Dean  Hook  was  equally  zealous,  the  venerable 
Bishop  (Dr  Gilbert)  took  a  hearty  interest  in  the 
work,  and  on  14th  November  1867  the  choir  of 
Chichester  Cathedral  was  reopened,  for  which 
occasion  Mr  E.  H.  Thorne,  at  that  time  organist, 
composed  his  fine  anthem,  "  I  was  glad  when  they 
said  unto  me,  we  will  go  into  the  House  of  the 
Lord." 

Chichester  being  a  cryptless  cathedral,  the  floor  of 
the  choir  rises  but  little  above  that  of  the  nave,  but 
that  little  is  sufficient  to  impart  dignity  to  it.  The 
stalls  occupy  their  old  position  under  the  tower,  the 
organ  being  placed  above  them  on  the  north.  Until 
the  restoration  of  1858-67  the  organ,  in  its  beautiful 


CHICHESTER  241 

old  Renaissance  case,  stood  on  the  Arundel  Shrine 
beneath  the  western  arch  of  the  tower,  and  very 
handsome  it  looked  when  viewed  in  conjunction  with 
Bishop  Sherburne's  return-stalls. 

As  originally  built  by  Renatus  Harris  in  1678  the 
Chichester  organ  had  but  one  manual,  no  pedals, 
only  one  open  diapason,  and  no  reed  stop.  In  1725 
By  field  added  to  it,  and  Knight  in  1778.  In  1808  it 
was  considerably  improved  by  England. 

Further  additions  were  made  by  Pilcher  in  1829, 
by  Gray  and  Davison  in  1844,  and  by  Hill  in 
1851. 

Fortunately  it  had  been  removed  before  the  fall  of 
the  spire  in  1861,  but  on  its  replacement  above  the 
northern  range  of  stalls  six  years  later,  the  old 
case  was  omitted,  and  until  1888,  when  a  complete 
renewal  of  its  mechanism  took  place  under  Hill, 
it  remained  without  one,  looking  in  that  state  very 
ragged.  The  present  case,  ready  for  the  reopening  of 
the  instrument  at  Christmas  of  that  year,  is  a  very 
handsome  one  of  Late  Gothic  design.  Finally, 
during  1904,  the  organ  was  rebuilt  by  Hele  and  Co., 
tubular  pneumatic  action  being  applied  to  the  entire 
instrument,  the  reeds  revoiced,  and  additions  made 
to  the  stops,  so  that  now  in  beauty  of  tone  the 
Chichester  organ  has  few  superiors.  An  interesting 
musical  service  marked  its  reopening  on  the  after- 
noon of  28th  September,  at  which  the  choirs  of 
Winchester  and  Salisbury  Cathedrals  assisted,  the 
services  and  anthems  being  selected  from  the  works 
of  eminent  and  representative  composers  of  cathedral 
music,  who  flourished  during  the  last  three  and  a 
half  centuries.      After  the  third  Collect,  four  of  the 

Q 


242       CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

finest  anthems  of  the  English  school  were  sung — 
"  Hosanna,"  by  Orlando  Gibbons  (1583-1625);  "I 
will  love  Thee,"  by  Jeremiah  Clarke  (1670- 1707); 
"The  Heavens  declare,"  by  Boyce  (1710-79);  and 
"It  came  even  to  pass,"  by  Sir  Frederick  Gore 
Ouseley,  written  for  the  reopening  of  Lichfield 
Cathedral  in  1861  ;  while  the  service  fitly  concluded 
with  Croft's  grand  Te  Deum  in  A. 

Beyond  the  choir-stalls  is  an  ample  and  dignified 
presbytery,  comprised  within  the  three  Norman  bays 
between  the  tower  and  the  retrochoir. 

These  arches  are  filled  with  modern  iron 
grilles  and  gates  of  local  biit  excellent  workman- 
ship, modelled  upon  some  ancient  specimens, 
formerly  here,  but  now  in  the  South  Kensington 
Museum. 

In  1870  a  reredos  of  stone  and  marble  was 
erected  from  the  designs  of  Messrs  Slater  and 
Carpenter,  consisting  of  a  group  (within  a  gabled 
arch)  of  the  Ascension,  nobly,  hieratically,  and 
grandly  treated  in  white  stone  from  the  cartoons  of 
Mr  J.  R.  Clayton,  and  the  chisel  of  Mr  James , 
Forsyth. 

It  failed,  however,  to  give  satisfaction,  partly 
from  the  fact  that  it  was  never  completed  by  the 
addition  of  wings,  and  partly  because,  like  the 
bishop's  throne,  it  was  rather  too  strongly  con- 
figured after  the  environing  twelfth-century  work, 
the  architects  forgetting  that,  for  our  best  models  \ 
in  church  furniture,  we  must  look  to  the  fifteenth 
century. 

The  removal  of  this  reredos,  long  talked  of,  has 
at    length   become  an  accomplished   fact,  and  the 


CHICHESTER  243 

Tudor  altar-screen  of  Bishop  Sherburne,  which  for 
many  years  had  been  hidden  away,  has  resumed  its 
old  position,  much  to  the  gratification  of  all  persons 
of  taste. 

The  discarded  reredos  has  found  a  home  in  St 
Saviour's  Church,  Brighton,  where  doubtless  it  is  in 
better  harmony  with  the  surroundings. 

In  1 87 1  the  restoration  of  the  Lady  Chapel 
which  had  been  sadly  misused,  was  taken  in  hand 
by  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  and  in  memory  of  Bishop 
Gilbert,  who  died  in  1870.  It  was  completed  and 
reopened  13th  October  1872;  and  with  the  stained 
glass,  added  at  different  times,  though  on  one 
uniform  plan,  by  Clayton  and  Bell,  constitutes  quite 
the  gem  of  the  cathedral.  The  unobtrusive  reredos 
of  alabaster  is,  however,  due  to  Messrs  Carpenter 
and  Ingelow. 

Since  then,  the  following  works  of  reparation  and 
embellishment  may  be  chronicled :  the  restoration, 
and  equipment  with  an  altar,  of  the  Chapel  of  St 
Mary  Magdalene  at  the  end  of  the  south  choir-aisle, 
in  memory  of  Canon  Crosse,  by  Messrs  Bodley  and 
Garner ;  of  St  Clement's  Chapel  in  the  outer  south 
aisle  of  the  nave  by  the  same  architects,  in  memory 
of  Bishop  Durnford,  whose  recumbent  effigy  is  here; 
and  of  the  cloisters  by  the  late  Mr  Gordon  M.  Hills. 
The  oak  choir-screen  —  long  a  desideratum  —  was 
raised  upon  the  low  stone  septum  destined  to  receive 
it,  about  fifteen  years  ago;  and  in  1901  the  facade 
received  that  north-western  tower,  which  had  lain  in 
ruins  for  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half.  It  is 
from  the  designs  of  Mr  J.  L.  Pearson  and  a  facsimile 
of  its  southern  sister. 


244       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

The  detached  bell-tower — interesting  and  valuable 
as  the  last  of  a  once  rather  numerous  race  belonging 
to  our  cathedrals — forms,  with  the  steeples  of  the 
cathedral,  a  very  imposing  group. 

Chichester  Cathedral  is  commonly  said  to  be  one 
of  the  smallest  in  the  kingdom.  It  is,  however,  by 
no  means  so,  as  the  following  table  of  dimensions, 
compared  with  those  of  other  cathedrals,  will 
prove : — 


ft.     in. 


411 

3 

172 

0 

62 

0 

90 

0 

59 

3 

26 

0 

65 

0 

277 

0 

Total  length,  including  west  porch  and  Lady 

Chapel 
Length  of  nave 
Height  of  nave  in  centre 
Total  width  of  nave 
Width  of  choir  with  side  aisles 
Width  of  choir  without  aisles  . 
Height  of  choir 
Height  of  tower  and  spire 


As  a  whole,  the  interior  of  Chichester  Cathedral 
recalls  the  Romanesque  of  the  nave  of  St  Etienne 
at  Caen,  or  the  Rhenish  variety  of  that  protean 
style  as  illustrated  by  Bonn ;  and  although  it  does 
not  overwhelm  us  like  Durham  and  Peterborough, 
we  feel  that  we  are  in  a  majestic,  yet  benign  and 
gracious  presence. 

The  view  from  the  west  door  to  the  graceful 
eastern  triplet  of  lancets,  broken  by  the  light  oaken 
choir  -  screen,  Lady  Featherstonhaugh's  delightful 
eighteenth-century  chandelier — alas,  that  so  few  of 
these  instrmnenta  have  been  suffered  to  remain  in 
our  churches !  for  they  grace  a  building  of  any 
style  —  and   Bishop   Sherburne's   happily  reinstated 


CHICHESTER 


245 


altar-screen,  may  be  pronounced  one  of  the  most 
poetical  and  satisfying  in  the  country,  reflecting  as 
it  does  the  greatest  credit  upon  the  taste  of  its 
present  guardians. 


CHAPTER   IX 

CHESTER 

Chester,  as  many  of  my  readers  know,  may  be 
said  to  have  two  cathedrals.  St  John's  Church 
must,  when  perfect,  have  been  a  finer  building  than 
St  Werburgha's,  and,  if  I  am  not  greatly  mistaken, 
it  certainly  was  the  cathedral  church  when  the 
city  divided  the  episcopal  title  with  Coventry  and 
Lichfield.  However,  Henry  VHI.  thought  proper 
to  select  St  Werburgha's  as  the  seat  of  one  of  those 
five  new  bishoprics  which  he  had  created  out  of 
the  revenues  of  the  dissolved  religious  houses,  and 
the  consequence  has  been,  that  the  mixed  Gothic 
subject  of  our  present  sketch  remained  in  a  state 
of  tolerable  preservation,  while  the  Romanesque  St 
John's  was  overtaken  by  grievous  degradation  and 
partial  ruin. 

Chester  Cathedral  is  a  church  of  the  second  order, 
and  despite  a  good  deal  of  beauty  in  parts,  which 
has  only  been  brought  out  since  the  extensive  works 
of  reparation  conducted  at  various  times  within  the 

24« 


H 

CO 


< 


< 


U 


o 


CHESTER  247 

last  sixty  years,  it  cannot  claim  a  high  rank  among 
churches  of  its  class. 

Besides  this  it  laboured  for  more  than  three 
centuries  under  the  disadvantage  of  never  having 
been  properly  finished,  especially  as  regards  its 
vaulting.  To  this  circumstance,  coupled  with  the 
disfigurements  inflicted  upon  it  during  successive 
debased  epochs,  is  due  the  sorry  plight  in  which  the 
church  was,  when,  about  1844,  Dean  Anson  sounded 
the  first  note  of  restoration,  by  calling  in  Mr  R.  C. 
Hussey  to  effect  some  alterations  in  the  choir  for 
the  more  seemly  performance  of  divine  service. 
The  good  work  thus  inaugurated  by  Dean  Anson 
— to  whom  the  stained  glass  in  the  five  eastern 
lancets  of  the  charming  Early  English  Chapter- 
house is  a  memorial — was  resumed  by  his  successor 
Dr  Howson,  under  whose  wise  administration  and 
deep  veneration  for  the  consecrated  thoughts  of 
artists,  seconded  by  the  quick  diagnosis  of  Sir 
Gilbert  Scott,  the  interior  of  Chester  Cathedral  has 
been  made  to  assume  the  truly  solemn  and  devotional 
appearance  it  now  wears.  Externally,  however,  the 
drastic  nature  of  the  repairs — necessary  ones,  there 
can  be  no  doubt — have  for  ever  destroyed  its  once 
venerable,  and  ruggedly  grand  character  for  the 
artist,  but  the  lover  of  the  picturesque  will  still  find 
a  small  "  unrestored  "  fragment  in  the  western  aisle 
of  the  uniquely  elongated  south  transept. 

The  ground  plan  includes  a  nave  with  aisles,  south 
porch,  and  preparations  for  a  western  tower  ;  strangely 
unequal  transepts,  the  southern  one  aisled ;  central 
tower ;  and  square-ended  choir  with  aisles,  and 
Lady  Chapel.     To  the  north  lie  very  considerable 


248       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

remains  of  conventual  apparatus, — cloisters,  Chapter- 
house, refectory  and  Fratry  house,  the  cathedral 
having  been,  previous  to  the  dissolution,  the  church 
of  a  Benedictine  monastery  established  in  1095  by 
Hugh  Lupus,  a  coarse,  brutal,  bad  person,  but 
who,  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  was  visited  with 
compunction,  and  desired  to  found  a  religious 
house. 

At  different  times  between  the  thirteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries,  Lupus'  church  has  been  almost 
entirely  removed,  so  that  every  architectural  epoch 
has  left  its  memento. 

At  a  first  glance,  Chester  Cathedral  appears  to 
be  a  somewhat  plain  specimen  of  Early  English, 
Decorated  and  Perpendicular  work,  not  very  lofty, 
and  not  very  long — its  measurements  from  west  to 
east  being  but  350  feet,  and  its  height  75  feet 
But  on  a  closer  acquaintance  it  will  be  found  to 
assume  an  air  of  considerable  dignity,  from  the 
pleasing  distribution  of  its  parts  and  its  elongation 
towards  the  east,  so  that  it  may  be  pronounced 
truly  minster-like,  and  by  no  means  of  an  exagger- 
ated parochial  character  like  the  recently  constituted 
cathedrals  of  Newcastle  and  Wakefield,  or  the  early 
Victorian  Manchester. 

Of  Norman  work,  the  existing  remains  are  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  north  transept,  the  wall  of 
the  north  nave  aisle,  and  the  foundations  of  the  north- 
west tower.  The  Chapter  -  house  and  the  passage 
thereto  are  Early  English  of  the  best  and  most 
refined  type.  The  choir  is  a  mingling  of  Early 
English  and  Decorated.  The  south  transept  and 
nave  arcade  are  Late  Decorated.     The  nave  cleres- 


CHESTER  249 

tory,  the  tower,  the  east  end  of  the  north  choir-aisle, 
and  the  cloisters  are  Perpendicular. 

The  first  impression  of  the  interior  of  Chester 
Cathedral  must  be  startling  indeed  to  those  who 
only  remember  it  under  its  unrestored  aspect,  or 
when  compared  with  its  somewhat  forlorn  look  in 
the  plates  illustrating  Wild's  monograph  published 
in  1 81 5,  or  from  those  in  Ormerod's  "Cheshire." 

Then  it  was  one  of  the  coldest  and  least  effective 
of  our  minsters,  the  beautiful  red  sandstone  of 
which  it  is  constructed  being  hidden  by  yellow 
wash,  and  flat  wooden  roofs  of  the  plainest  descrip- 
tion covering  nave  and  choir. 

Now,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  while  exception 
may  be  taken  to  certain  decorative  features  intro- 
duced since  the  restorations  effected  between  1870 
and  1 876,  the  interior  of  Chester  Cathedral,  regarded 
as  a  whole,  is  one  of  the  most  pleasing  in  England. 

From  the  west  door  there  is  a  descent  of  several 
steps  into  the  nave,  which  is  divided  from  its  aisles 
by  six  bays  of  richly  moulded  arches  on  slender 
shafts  clustered  against  a  pier.  They  are  of  good 
Late  Decorated  character,  but  alterations  were 
made  in  the  capitals  of  the  northern  range  at  a  later 
period.  The  easternmost  arch  on  either  side  has 
its  mouldings  carried  right  down  the  pier  without 
the  intervention  of  capitals — a  massive  yet  withal 
picturesque  arrangement  which  seems  local,  an 
instance  of  it  occurring  in  the  nave  of  the  not  far 
distant  cathedral  of  St  Asaph.  There  is  no  triforium, 
strictly  speaking,  but  above  every  arch  is  a  narrow 
frieze,  quite  plain  except  in  the  easternmost  bay 
where    it    is   gracefully  pierced,  and    forming    the 


250       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

parapet  to  a  passage  made  continuous  by  cutting 
an  arch  through  the  piers  to  which  the  groining 
shafts  are  attached.  The  clerestory  windows  placed 
rather  high  up  above  this  quasi-triforium  are  mostly 
Perpendicular  of  a  very  insipid  order,  and  form 
part  of  the  works  carried  out  under  the  two  last 
abbots,  Ripley  (1485-92)  and  Birchenshaw  ( 1493-1 5  51). 
The  south  aisle  has  a  pleasing  range  of  Late 
Decorated  windows  coeval  with  the  arcades ;  in 
the  opposite  one,  owing  to  the  abutment  of  the 
cloister,  they  are  placed  high  up  in  the  wall,  are 
low,  and  Perpendicular.  Below  them  is  a  con- 
siderable expanse  of  wall,  which  has  of  late  years 
been  relieved  with  mosaics  by  Burke  and  Co.  from 
Messrs  Clayton  and  Bell's  cartoons,  but  upon  which 
it  is  not  possible  to  bestow  unqualified  approval. 

The  vaulting  of  both  nave  and  aisles  was  evidently 
contemplated  by  the  monks,  but  the  Reformation 
overtook  the  work,  and  in  consequence  it  languished. 
Its  completion  was  one  of  the  first  things  thought 
of  by  Dr  Howson  when,  in  1868,  he  became  Dean 
of  Chester.  Until  then,  the  whole  of  this  part  of 
the  church  had  mean  wooden  roofs,  as  may  be  seen 
in  the  "  Cathedrals  "  of  Storer,  Wild,  and  Winkles. 

The  establishment,  on  Advent  Sunday  1867,  of 
a  Special  Evening  Service  in  the  nave,  led  the  way 
towards  re-animating  this  long  silent  portion  of  the 
cathedral,  and  gave  an  impetus  to  the  completion  of 
the  roofs  for  which  it  had  so  long  exclaimed.  In 
giving  the  nave  its  new  vault  Sir  Gilbert  Scott  did 
not  venture  upon  stone,  but,  with  Selby  and  York  as 
precedents,  he  completed  the  work  in  oak  upon  the 
lines  given   by  the  stone  springers  which  had  been 


CHESTER  251 

left  by  the  fifteenth-century  builders.  Stone,  however, 
was  used  in  groining  the  aisles,  and  the  effect  of 
both  is  excellent.  The  completion  of  so  great  and 
important  a  work  was  celebrated  by  a  series  of 
imposing  services  commencing  on  the  Eve  of  the 
Conversion  of  St  Paul,  24th  January  1872 — Charles 
Kingsley — Canon  of  Chester  from  1868  to  1873, 
thus  alluding  to  the  occasion  in  his  diary : — 

^'^  January  24  1872. — Service  this  afternoon  magni- 
ficent. Cathedral  quite  full.  Anthem  '  Send  out  Thy 
Light '  (Gounod).  Cathedral  looks  lovely,  and  I  have 
had  a  most  happy  day." 

When  these  works  were  undertaken,  the  tracery  of 
the  clerestory  windows  almost  throughout  the  church 
was  of  the  most  debased  character,  forming  mere 
gratings,  while  the  external  stone-work  had  become 
so  lamentably  decayed  that  the  building  looked  like 
a  mouldering  sandstone  cliff.  ^  Interiorly,  yellow 
wash  concealed  the  delicate  rose  colour  of  the  walls 
and  pillars,  and  the  whole  church  had  become  so 
overlaid  with  debased  work  that  several  years'  patient 
research  was  required  to  recover  its  original  design. 

In  the  view  looking  eastward,  a  marked  peculiarity 
is  the  absence  of  attached  columns  to  receive  the 
eastern  and  western  arches  of  the  central  tower, 
their  soffits  being  flat  and  enriched  with  Perpen- 
dicular panelling  continued  down  the  pilaster-like 
shaft  from  which  they  spring  without  capitals. 

The  erection  of  the  choir  occupied,  at   different 

*  See  the  illustrations  in  Buckler's  "Views  of  Cathedral 
Churches"  (1822),  and  Lyson's  "Magna  Britannia"  volume  on 
Cheshire. 


252        CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

times,  almost  the  whole  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
during  which  the  Norman  one,  which  was  apsidal 
and  only  two  bays  in  length,  was  gradually  removed. 
In  this  part  of  the  cathedral,  therefore,  we  have  an 
example  of  the  mingling  of  the  Early  English  and 
Decorated  styles,  grand  in  elevation,  and  graceful 
and  lovable  in  execution  and  contour.  The  aisles 
of  the  Norman  choir  likewise  terminated  in  apses, 
and  there  was,  in  all  probability,  one  in  the  eastern 
side  of  each  transept,  so  that  in  its  original  state  the 
church  was  parallel  cinque-apsidal. 

The  reconstruction  of  the  choir  in  its  present 
elongated  form  was  greatly  aided,  there  is  no  doubt, 
by  the  offerings  made  at  the  shrine  of  St  Werburgha, 
the  tutelar  saint  of  Chester,  much  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  choirs  of  Ely,  Lincoln,  Rochester, 
and  Worcester  did  to  St  Etheldreda,  St  Hugh,  St 
William,  and  St  Wulfstan  respectively. 

It  is  five  bays  in  length,  the  columns  dividing  it 
from  its  coevally  vaulted  aisles  being  very  graceful 
ones  in  isolated  clusters  of  shafts.  In  each  bay  is  a 
triforium  composed  of  four  trefoil-headed  arcades, 
and  above  that,  a  well-developed  clerestory  with 
windows  of  four  lights  each,  whose  tracery,  from  the 
circumstances  to  which  I  have  alluded,  is  modern. 
In  front  of  these  windows  a  passage  way  is  formed 
similarly  to  that  in  the  nave,  viz.,  by  piercing  the 
jambs  of  the  clerestory  windows,  though  in  this 
instance  the  gallery  is  protected  throughout  its 
length  by  a  gracefully  pierced  parapet.  From  the 
choir,  a  noble  arch  on  receding  shafts  opens  into 
the  Lady  Chapel,  and  slightly  in  advance  of  it  stands 
the  altar,  composed  of  various  woods  from  Palestine, 


'/^HESTER    .     .     . 
^     CATHEDRAL. 


p 


CHESTER  a53 

and  surmounted  by  a  retabulum  representing  the 
Institution  of  the  Eucharist  within  an  oblong  arcaded 
panel,  sufficiently  dignified  without  intercepting  the 
view  into  the  Lady  Chapel. 

In  the  original  thirteenth-century  choir,  each  aisle 
terminated  in  a  three-sided  apse,  the  entrance  to 
which  was  in  a  line  with  the  great  arch  opening 
into  the  Lady  Chapel.  This  was  approached  from 
behind  the  High  Altar,  which  stood  in  the  second 
bay  from  the  east,  so  that  a  procession  path  was 
formed  behind  it 

In  Perpendicular  times  these  apses  were  removed, 
and  the  choir-aisles  carried  on  until  they  overlapped 
two  bays  of  the  Lady  Chapel,  whose  original  Early 
English  design  suffered  greatly  during  the  process. 
When  Scott  came  to  diagnose  this  part  of  the  church, 
not  only  did  the  foundations  of  the  south-eastern 
apse  present  themselves,  but  many  of  its  Early 
Gothic  details  were  found  embedded  in  the  Perpen- 
dicular extension.  This  discovery  emboldened  the 
architect  to  remove  the  Late  Gothic  accretion  to  the 
Lady  Chapel  on  this  side,  and  to  restore  the 
thirteenth-century  three-sided  apse  to  the  south 
choir-aisle,  giving  it  that  spiral  roof  which  forms  so 
conspicuous,  if  not  altogether  pleasing,  a  feature  in 
the  south-east  view  of  the  cathedral. 

The  removal  of  these  parasitical  chapels  has  left 
the  whole  of  the  south  side  of  the  Lady  Chapel 
exposed  to  view,  but  the  Perpendicular  extension 
on  the  opposite  side  has  not  been  interfered  with, 
and,  from  a  picturesque  standpoint,  happily  so.  In 
any  case  it  must  have  been  left,  forming  as  it  does  the 
only  approach  to  the  Lady  Chapel  from  the  choir, 


254       CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

now  that  the  High  Altar  stands  almost  within  the 
arch  at  the  east  end  of  the  latter.  The  geometrically 
traceried  window  above  this  arch  is  filled  with 
stained  glass  by  Messrs  Heaton  and  Butler,  in  lieu 
of  some  by  Wailes,  inserted  during  the  fifties  of  the 
last  century. 

Between  1844  and  1846  certain  ameliorations  were 
effected  in  the  choir  under  Mr  R.  C.  Hussey,  who 
substituted  a  new  roof,  groined  in  timber  and  plaster 
on  the  old  springers,  for  the  flat  Perpendicular  one, 
but  this  gave  place  during  the  last  restoration  by 
Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  to  the  present  roof  constructed 
entirely  in  oak,  and  decorated  by  Messrs  Clayton 
and  Bell. 

The  choir-stalls,  and  their  almost  unequalled  series 
of  misereres^  most  ingeniously  and  frankly  restored 
at  the  cost  of  various  persons  and  sets  of  persons 
connected  with  the  cathedral  and  diocese,  belong  to 
that  period  when  our  church  furniture  was  at  its 
best,  the  Early  Perpendicular,  and  with  their  spiral 
canopies  present  an  array  little  inferior  to  those  of 
Beverley  and  Lincoln.  They  now  occupy  the  first 
two  bays  of  the  choir. 

In  the  old  Norman  Church  the  short  eastern  limb, 
as  at  Ely,  Peterborough,  and  Norwich,  formed  the 
presbytery,  the  choir  of  the  monks  being  located 
beneath  the  central  tower  and  extending  into  one 
bay  of  the  nave.  When  Mr  Hussey  came  to  work 
upon  the  choir  in  1844  he  found  the  stalls  occupying 
the  first  two  bays  as  at  present,  but,  desirous  of 
securing  additional  accommodation,  he  had  them 
removed,  stone  screen  and  all,  westward,  so  that 
one-half  of  the  stalls  occupied  the  tower  space,  and 


CHESTER  255 

the  remainder  the  first  arch  of  the  choir.  Until 
then,  the  organ  retained  its  old  post-Restoration 
case  shown  in  Wild's  view,  but,  on  the  erection  of  a 
new  organ,  a  case  to  match  the  canopy  work  of  the 
stalls  was  designed,  in  very  tolerable  Gothic,  as  may 
be  seen  from  a  woodcut  in  the  second  volume  of 
"  Murray's  Northern  Cathedrals."  This  view,  from 
the  masterly  hand  of  Jewitt,  gives  us  a  good  idea 
of  what  the  choir  of  Chester  Cathedral  was  like, 
from  its  reopening  on  the  Festival  of  the  Epiphany, 
6th  January  1846,  until  the  redistribution  of  its 
fittings  thirty  years  later. 

This  view  is  interesting  on  another  account,  for 
in  it  we  see  the  bishop's  throne,  partly  composed  of 
fragments  of  St  Werburgha's  shrine,  concerning 
which  I  shall  have  something  to  say  anon. 

Until  1874  the  choir  was  separated  from  the  nave 
by  a  stone  screen,  which,  if  not  altogether  beautiful, 
was  of  the  Perpendicular  period,  excepting  its  door- 
way.    It   being   essential   to   open  out  the  choir  to 
the   nave.  Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  after  some   reluctance, 
[    consented   to   remove   it,  and   then,  without  further 
i     disturbance  of  the  canopies  of  the  return-stalls  than 
opening  out  their  panels,  he  applied  an  open  screen 
founded  on  their   own   design   to   the  western  side, 
much  in  the  same  way  as   he  did   at   Winchester, 
Portions  of  the  old  screen  were   set  up  in  the  side 
aisles   behind   the  stalls,  and   an   entirely   new   one 
I     erected   within   the   northern   arch  of  the  tower  to 
[;,    support  the  organ,  though  it  seems  a  pity  the  old 
I     screen   could    not    have    been    made  to  serve   this 
purpose.     Scott's   arrangement  of  a   portion  of  the 

r—"~ 


256       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

screen  is  very  happy.  Indeed,  there  are  few 
cathedrals  in  which  the  vexata  qu(2stio  of  separation 
between  nave  and  choir  has  been  more  judiciously 
solved  than  at  Chester.  -^sthetically  considered, 
the  view,  looking  westward  from  the  altar  steps, 
may  be  considered  one  of  the  most  picturesque  in 
England. 

The  organ  shown  in  Wild's  and  other  old  views, 
was  in  all  probability  one  of  Father  Schmidt's  works, 
but  on  the  rearrangement  of  the  choir  in  1844  it 
was  deposed  in  favour  of  a  new  one  by  Gray  and 
Davison,  and  presented  to  the  then  recently  built 
cathedral  at  Valetta  in  Malta,  whose  erection  was 
one  among  the  many  religious  works  promoted  by 
Queen  Adelaide. 

At  that  time  the  organist  of  Chester  Cathedral  was 
Frederick  Gunton,  whom  Dr  Anson  brought  with  him 
from  Southwell  on  his  appointment  to  the  Deanery 
in  1 84 1.  Under  Gunton  considerable  improvement 
was  made  in  the  musical  services  at  Chester  until 
his  resignation  in  1877.  He  had  a  singularly  smooth 
touch,  which  Mendelssohn,  on  hearing  him  play, 
once  remarked  to  a  friend  was  "  like  velvet,"  and 
took  great  interest  in  the  erection  of  the  present 
organ,  in  which  some  portions  of  Gray  and  Davison's 
instrument — a  very  excellent  one,  by  the  way,  for  its 
date — were  incorporated.  The  builder  was  Whiteley 
of  Chester,  and  it  was  completed  in  1876,  in  readiness 
for  the  reopening  of  the  choir  after  restoration  on  7th 
August  of  that  year,  the  occasion  being  marked  by 
services  of  an  imposing  character — a  congregation 
of  between  three  and  four  thousand  persons  assisting 
thereat. 


CHESTER  257 

The  surpliced  choir  and  clergy  assembled  in  the 
Chapter-house,  whence  they  walked  in  procession 
around  the  cloisters  singing  the  hymn,  "  Lift  the 
strain  of  high  thanksgiving."  The  effect  of  the 
distant  melody  gradually  becoming  nearer  and  more 
distinct,  until  it  resounded  through  the  nave,  and 
was  taken  up  by  the  organ,  was  most  telling.  About 
one  hundred  choristers  from  the  various  English  and 
Welsh  cathedrals  were  followed  by  four  times  that 
number  of  clergy,  until  the  interior  of  the  choir  was 
full. 

The  evening  service  was  conducted  by  the  pre- 
centor (Rev.  E.  L.  Y.  Deacle),  Mr  Gunton  and  his 
deputy,  Mr  (now  Dr)  J.  C.  Bridge,  playing  the 
accompaniments.  The  canticles,  Cantate  Doniino 
and  Deus  Misereatur^  were  sung  to  Attwood  in  D 
by  the  Chester  choir ;  Ouseley's  anthem,  "It  came 
even  to  pass,"  by  that  of  Lichfield  ;  and  Elvey's  "  In 
that  day,"  by  that  of  St  George's  Chapel,  Windsor ; 
while  Gibbons'  sublime  "  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of 
David,"  was  sung  by  the  united  choirs,  and,  it  goes 
without  saying,  unaccompanied.  Truly  a  noble 
selection ! 

In  the  following  year  Gunton  resigned  his  post, 
being  succeeded  by  its  present  occupant,  Dr  J.  C. 
Bridge,  under  whom  the  music  at  Chester  has 
reached  its  present  state  of  excellence.  No  visitor 
to  this  cathedral  should  omit  to  assist  at  one  of 
the  services. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  the  past  and  present 
positions  of  the  High  Altar,  behind  which,  and  most 
probably  in  the  procession  path  formed  between  it 
and   the   entrance   to   the   Lady   Chapel,  stood   the 

R 


258       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

shrine  of  St  Werburgha — a  Mercian  princess  of  the 
seventh  century,  who,  preferring  the  cloister  to  the 
court,  entered  the  abbey  of  Ely,  over  which  her 
great-aunt  Etheldreda  was  then  presiding.  Here 
Werburgha  assumed  the  veil,  and  after  a  short 
sojourn,  undertook,  at  the  request  of  her  uncle, 
Etheldred,  then  King  of  Mercia,  the  arrangement 
and  direction  of  newly  established  nunneries  at 
Hanbury  and  Trentham,  at  the  latter  of  which 
she  died,  though  in  what  year  has  not  been  precisely 
ascertained. 

About  two  centuries  afterwards,  during  an 
apprehended  Danish  invasion,  the  remains  of  St 
Werburgha  were  brought  for  safety  to  Chester, 
and  placed  in  the  church  of  Saints  Peter  and  Paul, 
the  site  of  which  is  not  known. 

The  custom  in  such  cases  was  to  erect  a  costly 
shrine,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  one  containing 
the  relics  of  Werburgha  gave  importance  to  the 
church  or  churches  dedicated  to  the  saint  in 
Chester.  The  late  Canon  Blomfield  was  of  opinion 
that  the  chapel  and  shrine  of  St  Werburgha  occupied 
the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Norman  choir. 

When  the  Lady  Chapel  was  built  at  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century  the  shrine  fell  within  the  choir, 
and  remained  there  until  the  Reformation,  when  it 
was  removed,  and  the  lower  part  converted  into  a 
throne  for  Bird,  the  newly  constituted  bishop. 
Wherever  it  stood,  the  sub-structure  of  the  shrine  is 
represented  as  generally  the  same,  allowance  being 
made  for  the  artist's  manner. 

In  drawings  of  the  choir  made  before  1830,  by 
Prout   and   Wild,  the   bishop's   throne   is   shown  as 


i 


CHESTER  259 

composed  of  the  base  and  crown  of  the  shrine  sur- 
mounted by  a  wooden  canopy  of  Jacobean  character. 
The  part  intermediate  between  the  base  and  the 
crown  was  probably  destroyed,  and  is  hardly  likely  to 
be  recovered.  It  was  stated  in  a  pamphlet  of  1749, 
that  around  the  upper  part  of  the  throne  were  thirty- 
four  little  images  of  Mercian  saints  and  sovereigns. 
An  attempt  was  made  at  restoration,  but  the  mason 
employed  put  kings'  heads  on  queens'  shoulders,  and 
vice  versa ! 

On  the  translation  of  Bishop  Law,  in  1824,  to  the 
See  of  Bath  and  Wells,  considerable  changes  were 
made  in  the  throne  as  a  memorial  of  his  episcopate. 
The  Jacobean  canopy  was  removed,  the  crown  of  the 
shrine  was  lifted  up  and  supported  on  stonework  in 
the  Gothic  of  that  period  and  embellished  with 
pinnacles,  the  lower  compartment  enclosing  the 
bishop's  seat  being  filled  up  with  panels  of  a  similar 
character.  In  this  state  the  mass  remained,  as  may 
be  seen  in  Jewitt's  illustration  of  the  choir  in 
"Murray's  Handbook,"  until  its  replacement  under 
Sir  Gilbert  Scott,  by  a  throne  designed  to  match, 
both  in  style  and  material,  with  the  stalls. 

The  shrine  was  then  placed  temporarily  in  the 
south  aisle  of  the  choir,  but  was  afterwards 
removed  to  its  present  position  at  the  west  end  of 
the  Lady  Chapel  under  the  direction  of  Sir  Arthur 
Blomfield,  who,  from  the  recovered  parts,  was 
enabled  to  determine  exactly  the  height  of  the  crown 
from  the  pedestal ;  but  no  attempt  was  made  to 
restore  it,  so  to  speak,  by  the  insertion  of  fresh 
carving,  plain  stone  being  used  where  it  was 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  its  true  proportions. 


26o       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

To  those  interested  in  the  great  Church  Movement 
of  seventy  years  ago,  these  views  of  the  quondam 
throne  in  Chester  Cathedral,  recall  the  fact  that  it  was 
occupied  for  five  years  by  Chas.  Jas.  Blomfield.  He 
succeeded  Bishop  Law  in  the  Episcopal  chair  of 
Chester  in  1824,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  took 
up  his  residence  in  the  gloomy  palace  of  his 
extensive  and  laborious  See  under  the  shadow  of 
the  crumbling  walls  of  his  cathedral.  When  the 
tidings  of  Blomfield's  promotion  reached  his 
native  place — Bury  St  Edmund's — they  provoked 
the  following  smart  epigram  from  one  of  the  boys 
of  the  Grammar  School  there  : — 

"Through  Chesterford  to  Bishopsgate^ 
Did  Blomfield  safely  wade  ; 
Then  leaving  ford  and  gate  behind, 
He's  Chester's  Bishop  made." 

Five  years  later  Bishop  Blomfield  was  translated  to 
London,  but  during  his  short  tenure  of  the  See  of 
Chester  he  had  raised  the  tone  of  that  diocese  very 
considerably,  for,  to  judge  from  the  following 
description  in  a  local  paper  of  a  scene  at  a  con- 
firmation in  1820,  the  state  of  affairs  in  it  prior  to 
his  coming  must  have  been  lamentable  indeed  : — 

"  On  Monday  morning  last  the  Lord  Bishop  con- 
firmed in  our  cathedral  966  males,  and  1131  females, 
the  youth  of  this  and  neighbouring  places.  The 
circumstance  seems  to  have  had  the  effect  of  raising 
the  spirits  of  the  confirmees  to  the  pitch  of  fun.  In 
the  churchyard,  the    boys  and  young   men   amused 

^  In  allusion  to  the  Bishop's  first  two  livings,  the  latter  of 
which,  Chester  being  a  poor  See  at  that  time,  he  was  allowed 
to  retain  in  commendam. 


CHESTER  261 

themselves  with  pelting  one  another  with  sods,  and 
the  graves  were  robbed  of  their  verdure  to  supply 
the  missiles.  In  the  cathedral,  we  are  told  that  the 
cushions  and  prayer  books  were  flying  about  in 
all  directions,  and  some  wags  having  picked  up  some 
bits  of  waste  tin  in  the  street  (the  sweepings  of  a 
neighbouring  tin  shop),  with  straw  and  tow  manu- 
factured tails,  and  with  the  help  of  the  tin  they 
ingeniously  attached  them  to  the  capes  of  the  boys 
as  they  went  up  to  receive  the  Bishop's  benediction. 
We  understand  that  some  of  the  clergy  who 
attempted  to  keep  the  boys  in  order,  found  it 
necessary  to  strengthen  their  arguments  by 
applying  the  logic  of  fists." 

And  yet  in  spite  of  these  things  God  was  not 
left  without  witness  in  those  days  ;  but  the  revival 
of  Church  life,  originating  at  Oxford,  came  none 
too  soon. 

The  Lady  Chapel,  a  graceful  work  of  the  Lancet 
period,  had,  as  I  have  already  stated,  been  very 
rudely  handled  by  the  fifteenth-century  builders 
when  they  extended  the  choir-aisles. 

In  order  to  form  an  entrance  into  it  from  these 
chapels  which  overlapped  two  of  its  bays,  the 
windows  here  were  removed,  and  the  wall  below 
them  cut  through  down  to  the  ground,  forming 
arcades ;  so  that  when  Mr  Hussey  and  Sir  Gilbert 
Scott  came  to  work  upon  the  Lady  Chapel,  about 
1858,  it  presented,  on  the  outside,  with  its  flattened 
roof  and  meagre  details,  all  the  characteristics  of 
a  Late  Perpendicular  building. 

Interiorly,  however,  the  chapel  was  fortunate  in 
retaining  its  graceful  Early  English  vault,  and  the 
jamb  shafts  and  rich  mouldings  of  its  windows,  all 


262       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

of  which  were  filled  with  Perpendicular  tracery. 
Bit  by  bit,  the  thirteenth-century  details  developed 
themselves,  and  eventually  nearly  every  iota  was 
discovered  up  to  the  top  of  the  cornice,  as  well  as 
the  parapet  over  it.  The  windows  gave  themselves 
perfectly,  being  brought  back  to  their  original 
form  of  three  or  five  lancets  grouped  within  a 
pointed  arch,  and,  externally  treated  panel-wise 
with  regard  to  the  wall  in  which  they  are  pierced. 
Certain  features  had,  perforce,  to  be  left  to  pure 
conjecture,  as,  for  instance,  the  pinnacles  flanking 
the  eastern  gable.  I  have  already  alluded  to  the 
removal  of  the  southern  Perpendicular  chapels,  and 
the  retention,  for  convenience,  of  those  on  the 
north. 

Internally,  the  Lady  Chapel  of  Chester  Cathedral 
now  wears  a  very  solemn  and  devotional  appearance. 
The  coloration  of  the  simply  groined  roof  with 
scrolls  and  medallions  was  the  work  of  Mr  Octavius 
Hudson,  an  artist  of  repute  in  this  particular  branch 
of  ecclesiology,  forty  years  ago.  The  mosaic  decora- 
tion above,  and  on  either  side  of  the  altar,  was 
executed  from  the  designs  of  the  late  Sir  Arthur 
Blomfield,  and  the  stained  glass  in  the  eastern 
quintuplet  of  lancets,  was  the  work  of  O'Connor. 
It  is,  however,  only  an  average  specimen  of  the 
work  of  that  artist,  who,  when  under  architectural 
supervision,  could  really  produce  some  excellent 
things,  as,  for  instance,  the  western  and  transeptal 
windows  of  St  Saviour's,  Leeds,  executed  between 
1845  and  1848  under  Pugin,  and  the  great  west 
window  of  St  Matthias,  Stoke  Newington,  carried 
out  from  Butterfield's  designs  in  1865. 


CHESTER  263 

The  south  transept  of  this  cathedral,  a  fine 
piece  of  Late  Decorated  architecture,  but,  unhappily, 
never  completed  as  regards  its  vaulting,  extends 
four  bays  beyond  the  line  of  the  nave  and  choir- 
aisles.  Until  1876  this  extraordinarily  long  transept 
enjoyed  the  privileges  of  a  distinct  parish  church 
dedicated  to  St  Oswald.  Since  then,  the  wall 
separating  it  from  the  rest  of  the  church  has  been 
pulled  down,  and  the  transept  made  to  assume 
its  legitimate  position  of  a  member  of  the  cathedral, 
a  new  church  having  been  built  in  another  part  of 
the  city. 

There  is  a  noble  south  window  of  seven  lights 
with  Flowing  Decorated  tracery,  filled  with  excellent 
stained  glass  by  Heaton  and  Butler  from  the 
designs  of  Sir  Arthur  Blomfield  ;  but  a  good  deal 
yet  remains  to  be  done  to  this  transept  before  it 
can  be  brought  into  harmony  with  the  rest  of  this 
small,  but  undoubtedly  most  picturesque  and  interest- 
ing of  our  north-western  cathedrals. 

The  addition  of  turrets  to  the  central  tower  at 
Chester,  while  doubtless  endowing  it  with  greater 
dignity,  have  changed  that  external  aspect  of  the 
Cathedral  with  which  views  taken  by  the  restorations 
have  familiarized  us.  For  old  associations  count 
much  in  judging  of  a  church,  more  particularly  of 
an  English  church,  and  by  many  people  Chester 
Cathedral,  despite  its  modest  dimensions,  was 
accepted  as  an  ideal  one. 


CHAPTER  X 


BRISTOL 


Bristol  Cathedral  has  been  generally  overlooked 
as  undeserving  of  much  notice,  perhaps  from  the 
fact  that  the  city  possesses  so  formidable  a  rival 
in  the  minster-like  church  of  St  Mary  Redclyfife  ; 
yet,  although  small  in  dimensions,  its  mediaeval 
portion  presents  a  specimen  of  every  epoch  of 
Gothic,  from  the  Middle  Norman  of  its  Chapter- 
house to  the  Perpendicular  of  its  stately  tower, 
equal  to  anything  in  the  country.  Indeed,  as 
Professor  Freeman  has  remarked,  "  justice  has  never 
been  done  either  in  an  aesthetic  or  historical  point 
of  view  to  this  cathedral." 

Until  Archdeacon  Norris,  early  in  the  sixties 
of  the  last  century,  stirred  the  stagnant  waters, 
and  by  his  unwearied  exertions  secured  the  com- 
pletion of  its  long  imperfect  design  from  the  masterly 
hand  of  Street,  Bristol  Cathedral  resembled  in 
outline  a  cruciform  church  shorn  of  its  nave,  such 
as  the  abbey  churches  of  Hexham,  Milton  Abbas, 
and  Merton  College  Chapel,  Oxford,  still  present. 

264 


BRISTOL  265 

Historically,  Bristol  Cathedral  is  interesting.  It 
was  originally  the  church  of  a  not  particularly  rich 
or  powerful  abbey  of  Augustinian  canons,  founded 
during  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century  by  Robert 
Fitzhardinge,  and  which  on  its  surrender  by  the 
last  abbot,  Morgan  Williams,  into  the  hands  of 
Henry  VIII.  in  1539,  became,  three  years  later,  the 
cathedral  of  one  of  the  five  new  dioceses  created 
partly  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  religious  houses 
suppressed  by  that  king. 

To  the  year  1142  belongs  the  commencement 
of  a  Norman  church  of  which  the  chief  remains  are 
the  Chapter-house — a  noble  one,  bereft  however,  of 
its  eastern  portion,  which  was  in  all  probability  apsidal 
— with  the  vestibule  thereto,  and  two  gateways  in 
the  precincts.  In  12 16  a  Lady  Chapel — styled  the 
Elder  Lady  Chapel,  because  on  the  completion  of 
the  rebuilding  of  the  choir  in  the  fourteenth  century 
a  second  Lady  Chapel  was  provided  for  the  altar 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  at  the  east  end — was  built  in 
the  graceful  Early  English  style  of  its  period,  addi- 
tions and  alterations  being  subsequently  made  at  the 
close  of  the  same  century  in  the  shape  of  the  vault- 
ing and  the  east  window,  an  excellent  specimen 
of  Edwardian  Gothic.  This  Elder  Lady  Chapel 
occupies  an  anomalous,  but  not  altogether  unique, 
position  in  the  angle  formed  by  the  north  aisle  of 
the  choir  with  the  transept. 

The  existing  eastern  portion  of  the  cathedral 
belongs  to  the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  This  graceful  piece  of  work,  due  to  Abbot 
Knowle,  who  ruled  the  house  from  1306  to  1322, 
eventually  included   the   choir,  choir-aisles,    chapels, 


266       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

transepts  and  stately  central  tower,  the  Norman 
church  being  gradually  but  entirely  removed. 
After  the  completion  of  these  portions,  it  is  evident 
that  it  was  contemplated — probably  by  the  same 
architect — to  rebuild  the  nave.  That  the  work  was 
commenced  is  perfectly  clear,  from  the  fact  that 
the  foundations  for  the  whole  of  the  north  side  with 
buttresses,  exactly  corresponding  with  those  of  the 
choir,  were  remaining  in  their  places  when  Mr  Street 
began  his  new  one  in  1868,  together  with  a  portion 
of  the  south-west  angle  of  the  south  aisle,  where 
the  work  had  been  carried  up  to  some  height,  and 
in  a  manner  exactly  imitated  from  the  corresponding 
portion  of  the  work  in  the  choir.  That  it  was  never 
completed  was  evident,  not  only  by  the  almost  entire 
absence  of  wrought  stones  belonging  to  any  part 
of  it,  and  of  any  documentary  or  other  evidence  of 
its  destruction,  but  also  by  some  fragments  of  the 
Norman  south  wall — never  removed,  as  they  must 
have  been,  had  the  plan  been  carried  out  to  com- 
pletion— and  also  by  the  portion  of  the  fifteenth- 
century  cloister,  which  shows  that  when  it  was 
built  the  Norman  wall  was  still  standing,  for  had 
the  line  of  the  new  nave  been  carried  on  from  the 
fragment  commenced,  and  remaining,  in  1867,  at 
the  south-west  angle,  its  wall  and  buttresses  would 
have  made  such  a  cloister  impossible. 

A  torso  the  cathedral  remained  until  1868,  when 
the  present  nave  was  commenced  from  the  designs  of 
Mr  G.  E.  Street,  who  wisely  decided  to  build  it  on 
the  same  lines  as,  but  in  a  much  bolder  and  slightly 
earlier  style  than  the  choir  of  Abbot  Knowle,  who 
hus   remains  in  a  sense  the  creator  of  a  cathedral 


BRISTOL  267 

unique  in  English  Gothic  annals,  the  groining  of  the 
central  roof,  springing  direct  from  the  caps  of  delicate 
attached  shafts,  while  the  thrust  is  taken,  not  by  the 
usual  exterior  flying  buttresses,  but  by  a  series  of 
unique  arches  or  bridges  which  cross  the  aisles  below 
the  groining,  and  are  visible  from  the  interior  of 
the  church.  Such  a  plan  gives  a  superb  range  of 
pillars  and  arches  from  east  to  west,  and  rows 
of  magnificently  tall  windows,  crossed  at  about 
half  their  height  by  transomes,  which,  together 
with  the  partial  manner  in  which  the  arches  spring 
directly  from  the  piers  without  the  intervention  of 
capitals,  indicate  that  decline  which  was  gradually 
creeping  on. 

All  over  Germany  we  find  instances  of  thirteenth- 
and  fourteenth-century  churches  without  a  clerestory, 
but  with  a  nave  and  aisles  separated  from  each  other 
by  lofty  arcades,  and  all  vaulted  at  the  same  level. 
The  nave  of  the  cathedral  at  Paderborn,  perhaps 
derived  from  that  of  Poitiers,  is  a  particularly  noble 
instance  of  the  unclerestoried  type ;  so  is  the  almost 
contemporary  one  of  the  minster  at  Herford,  and 
the  somewhat  later  nave  of  the  quondam  cathedral 
at  Minden,  perhaps  the  noblest  example  of  this, 
the  "  hall "  church,  as  it  is  styled,  in  Westphalia, 
where  all  these  examples  are  located.  Although  this 
peculiar  type  of  church  is  seen  on  its  most  impressive 
scale  in  the  above-named  province  of  Germany — 
the  cities  of  Munster,  Osnabriick  and  Soest  offer- 
ing numerous  grandiose  instances — it  found  favour 
in  other  districts,  especially  in  Saxony,  where  the 
nave  of  the  Lutheranised  Dom  at  Meissen  reminds 
one  very  forcibly  of  Bristol.     In   England,  an  un- 


268       CATHEDRALS   OF   ENGLAND 

clerestoried  church  with  timber  roofs  is  by  no 
means  uncommon  —  one  fine  instance  occurring 
in  the  Austin  Friars  Church  near  Broad  Street, 
London  ;  but  instances  of  vaulted  ones  are  exceed- 
ingly scarce.  It  is  difficult  to  know  what  Abbot 
Knowle's  motive  was  for  so  complete  a  departure 
from  insular  tradition. 

Possibly,  by  a  piece  of  conversatism,  rare  at  that 
date,  it  was  decided  to  retain  the  Norman  tower  by 
which  the  height  of  the  vaulting  would  be  strictly 
limited  ;  or  it  may  have  been  that  the  abbot  or  his 
architect  in  search  of  a  new  idea  took  a  trip  to 
Germany,  where,  impressed  with  those  unclerestoried 
churches  to  which  I  have  alluded,  the  idea  may 
have  been  conceived  of  securing  a  stately  and 
spacious  building  suitable  to  the  requirements  of 
such  a  great  preaching  order  as  the  Augustinian, 
and  at  the  same  time  an  economical  one. 

Whether  the  career  of  Abbot  Knowle  was  too  brief 
to  achieve  his  design,  or  whether  adequate  funds 
were  not  forthcoming,  or  whether  it  was  hindered  by 
the  increasing  distractions  of  the  kingdom  at  this 
period,  cannot  be  decided,  possibly  these  causes  in 
conjunction.  Five  years  before  Knowle's  death  the 
miserable  career  of  Edward  II.  came  to  a  violent 
termination  in  the  neighbouring  Berkeley  Castle,  and 
the  body  of  the  murdered  monarch  would  have  been 
conveyed  to  Bristol  for  interment  within  the  walls  of 
Fitzhardinge's  monastery,  but  that  the  abbot's  fear 
of  Queen  Isabella  and  her  party  constrained  him  to 
refuse  its  sepulture.  Possibly  had  this  been  granted, 
the  offerings  of  pilgrims  at  the  shrine  of  a  monarch 
whom  a  strange  popular  devotion  had  elevated  to  the 


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BRISTOL  269 

rank  of  a  martyr,  and  which  were  poured  instead 
into  the  treasury  of  the  more  courageous  abbot  of 
Gloucester,  would  have  supplied  means  for  the 
magnificent  completion  of  the  ecclesiastical  buildings 
here,  had  funds  been  needed. 

To  Snow,  Knowle's  successor  in  the  abbacy,  we 
may  assign  the  double  chantry  chapel  at  the  south- 
east, and  the  Newton  chapel  at  the  south-west 
angle  of  the  choir,  to  whose  date,  1332-41,  may  be 
attributed  such  signs  indicative  of  the  approach  of 
the  last  great  Gothic  age  as  a  thinness  of  detail 
and  a  flamboyantising  tendency  in  the  tracery. 

John  Newland  or  Nailheart  transmuted  the  Norman 
tower  piers  into  Perpendicular  between  1481  and 
15 15,  rearing  upon  them  that  massive  central  tower 
which,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  modern  pair  at 
the  west  end,  endows  the  mass  with  an  air  of  great 
dignity.  Then  came  the  dissolution  of  the  house, 
and,  according  to  the  best  authorities,  the  destruc- 
tion between  1539  and  1542  of  the  Norman  nave, 
when  all  hopes  of  re-erecting  it  passed  away. 

Houses  were  subsequently  built  upon  its  site,  which 
they  occupied  until  1835,  when  the  Chapter,  having 
in  mind  the  riots  and  incendiarism  of  1831,  and 
dreading  the  consequences  which  their  proximity  to 
the  cathedral  might  entail  upon  it,  caused  them  to  be 
removed. 

The  choir  has  seven  bays,  with  five  of  which  the 
aisles  are  co-extensive.  The  remaining  two  project 
beyond,  and  the  view  eastward  is  closed  by  a  window 
of  nine  lights,  with  curvilinear  tracery,  well  thrown 
up  in  the  wall,  and  filled  with  stained  glass,  a 
considerable    quantity    of    which     is    coeval,    care- 


270       CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

fully  restored  and  supplemented  where  required,  in 

1847. 

The  choir  was  stalled  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI., 
very  shortly  after  the  elevation  of  the  church  to 
cathedral  rank,  and  enclosed  westward  by  a  solid 
stone  screen  of  the  same  period.  Until  1861  it 
supported  the  organ  built  between  1681  and  1685 
by  Renatus  Harris,  and  enclosed  in  a  case  of  much 
dignity,  its  three  towers  being  finished  with  crowns 
and  mitres. 

A  touching  story  is  told  of  a  robin  which,  for 
fifteen  years,  inhabited  this  cathedral,  and  received 
its  subsistence  from  the  hand  of  the  verger.  During 
service  time  it  usually  perched  upon  one  of  the 
mitres  surmounting  the  organ-case,  and  accompanied 
the  solemnity  by  offering  up  its  harmonious  praise. 

The  following  lines  upon  the  above  incident  were 
composed  by  the  Rev.  S.  Love,  one  of  the  minor 
canons,  who  died  in  1773: — 

"Sweet,  social  bird  !    Whose  soft  harmonious  lays 
Swell  the  glad  song  of  thy  Creator's  praise. 
Say,  art  thou  conscious  of  approaching  ills  ? 
Fell  winter  storms — the  pointed  blast  that  kills  ? 
Shun'st  thou  the  savage  North's  unpitying  breath  ? 
Or  cruel  man's  more  latent  snares  of  death  ? 
Here  dwell  secure  ;  here  with  incessant  note 
Pour  the  soft  music  of  thy  trembling  throat. 
Here,  gentle  bird,  a  sure  asylum  find. 
Nor  dread  the  chilling  frost,  nor  boisterous  wind. 
No  hostile  tyrant  of  the  feather'd  race. 
Shall  dare  invade  thee  in  this  hallow'd  place  ; 
Nor  while  he  sails  the  liquid  air  along 
Check  the  shrill  numbers  of  thy  cheerful  song. 
No  cautious  gunner,  whose  unerring  sight 
Stops  the  bold  cagic  in  bis  rapid  flight, 


BRISTOL  2^l 

Shall  here  disturb  my  lovely  songster's  rest, 

Nor  wound  the  plumage  of  his  crimson  breast. 

Peace,  then,  sweet  warbler,  to  thy  fluttering  heart, 

Defy  the  rage  of  hawks,  and  toils  of  art ; 

Now  shake  thy  downy  plumes,  now  gladlier  pay 

Thy  grateful  tribute  to  each  rising  day  ; 

While  crowds  below,  their  willing  voices  raise. 

To  sing  with  zeal  the  great  Jehovah's  praise 

Thou,  perched  on  high  shalt  hear  th'  adoring  throng, 

Catch  the  glad  strains,  and  aid  the  sacred  song, 

Increase  the  solemn  chorus,  and  inspire 

Each  tongue  with  music,  and  each  heart  with  fire." 

A  similar  robin  frequented  Winchester  Cathedral 
about  the  year  1846,  to  which  the  above  lines  are 
equally  applicable. 

The  stalls,  with  their  returns  and  the  screen, 
occupied  the  third  and  fourth  bays  of  the  choir, 
leaving  two  to  the  west  of  them  which  constituted 
an  ante-choir  or  sermon  place,  as  at  Ely.  Charles 
Wild,  in  his  series  of  "  Twelve  Cathedrals,"  gives  a 
view  of  the  choir  of  Bristol  looking  westward,  as 
it  appeared  about  1835  showing  the  bishop's  throne, 
a  singular  erection  reminding  one  of  a  canopied 
bedstead,  the  returned  stalls  and  the  noble  organ- 
case  with  a  choir  organ-case  of  similar  character  in 
front  of  it  above  the  west  entrance.  As  a  specimen 
of  early  post-Reformation  choral  arrangement,  this 
work  at  Bristol,  although  of  the  latest  Gothic 
character,  must  have  been  very  picturesque,  not 
to  say  valuable,  and  its  upheaval  forty-five  years 
ago  was  much  to  be  regretted  on  several  grounds. 
In  1 86 1  Messrs  Pope  and  Bindon,  local  architects, 
were  called  in  to  "  restore "  the  choir  and  to  "  throw 
it    open"    to    the    ante-church.       Accordingly    the 


272       CATHEDRALS  OF  ENGLAND 

screen  was  sacrificed — its  mutilated  fragments 
being  banished  to  the  cloisters,  where  they  may 
still  be  seen — the  sixteenth-century  stalls  supple- 
mented and  moved  a  bay  further  eastward,  and 
the  organ-case,  which  the  authorities  had  the  sense 
to  preserve,  placed  above  them  on  the  north  side, 
though  to  suit  its  altered  position,  bereft  of  the 
royal  and  episcopal  insignia  surmounting  its  towers. 
The  choir  organ-case  shown  in  Wild's  view  was 
discarded  in  1861  in  favour  of  a  new  Gothic 
one  that  assorts  ill  with  the  Caroline  work  of  the 
great  organ-case  which  it  flanks  in  the  next  bay 
eastward. 

Across  the  eastern  arch  of  the  tower  a  meaningless 
screen  of  stone  and  marble  was  built,  and  the  two 
western  bays  of  the  choir  thus  shut  off  from  the 
crossing  were  seated  with  chairs  placed  parochial 
fashion.  No  screens  were  erected  bet^\'een  this 
western  portion  of  the  choir  and  its  aisles,  so  that 
the  appearance  of  the  whole  reminded  one  of  a  field 
with  a  gate  but  no  hedges. 

Sir  Gilbert  Scott  had  been  consulted  several  times 
on  the  subject  of  rearranging  the  choir  at  Bristol, 
but  the  Dean  and  Chapter  having  acted  upon  the 
principle  of  taking  advice  and  then  reserving  to 
themselves  the  right  of  doing  as  they  pleased,  he 
repudiated  all  connection  with  a  work  which,  now 
that  it  has  been  to  a  considerable  extent  undone, 
is  willingly  forgotten. 

Early  in  1 868  the  foundation  stone  of  the  new  nave 
was  laid.  The  work  made  rapid  progress,  and  would 
have  reached  completion  much  sooner  than  it  did 
but  for  an  outburst  of  Protestant  fury,  provoked  by 


BRISTOL  273 

the  statues  of  the  Four  Latin  Doctors  with  which 
Redfern — who  perhaps  overstepped  the  limits  of 
prudence  in  regard  to  certain  accessories  —  had 
equipped  the  niches  on  either  side  the  great  northern 
portal.  In  the  Spring  of  1876  these  effigies 
were  rudely  dislodged,  to  the  distress  of  all  devout- 
minded  persons,  and  to  the  grief  of  the  sculptor, 
whose  death,  two  months  afterwards,  was  attributed 
by  some  to  this  unseemly  occurrence,  and  replaced 
subsequently  by  the  present  uninterestingly  respect- 
able ones  of  the  Four  Evangelists.  The  rejected 
statues  found  a  home  on  the  tower  of  East  Heslerton 
Church,  one  of  a  large  number  built  or  restored  by 
Street  through  the  munificence  of  Sir  Tatton  Sykes 
amid  the  Yorkshire  Wolds. 

This  unfortunate  affair  not  only  threw  the  city 
into  a  state  of  ferment,  but  led  to  the  disruption  of 
the  Building  Committee,  the  estrangement  of  many 
friends  to  the  work,  and  its  subsequent  stoppage  for 
a  short  time.  However,  after  some  delay,  the 
necessary  funds  having  been  collected,  the  works 
were  resumed  and  the  nave  opened  on  23rd  October 

1877. 

Since  then,  works  of  reparation  and  embellishment 
too  numerous  to  particularise,  have  been  prosecuted 
in  various  parts  of  the  cathedral  both  ancient  and 
modem,  including  an  excellent  commencement  of 
painted  glass  by  Hardman  in  the  nave,  the  completion 
of  the  western  towers  under  the  late  Mr  J.  L.  Pearson, 
and  the  present  sumptuous  fitting  of  the  choir  from 
the  same  able  hands. 

Not  a  few  of  these  works  may  be  traced  back  to 
the  revival  of  Church  life  in  Bristol  consequent  upon 

S 


274       CATHEDRALS  OF   ENGLAND 

its  becoming  once  more  (viz.  in  1898)  the  actual  seat 
of  a  bishop,  the  See  having  been  suppressed  in  1 836 
on  the  translation  of  Dr  Allen  to  Ely,  and  united  to 
Gloucester. 


WORKS   CONSULTED   IN   THE    PREPARA- 
TION  OF  THIS  VOLUME 

Bentham's  (James)  "Antiquities  of  the  Conventual  and 
Cathedral  Church  of  Ely"   (1771). 

Billings'  (R.  W.)  "Architectural  Illustrations  and  Descrip- 
tions of  the  Cathedral  Church  at  Durham  "  (1843). 

Britton's  (John)  "Cathedrals  of  Bristol  (1830),  Hereford 
(1831),  and  Worcester"  (1835). 

Dodsworth's  (William)  "Cathedral  Church  of  Salisbury" 
(1814). 

Ferrey's  (Benjamin)  "Recollections  of  Pugin"  (1861). 

Millers'  (George)  "Description  of  the  Cathedral  Church 
of  Ely"  (1834). 

Murray's  Handbooks  to  the  English  Cathedrals  (1861-80). 

Scott's  (Sir  Gilbert)  "Lectures  on  Mediaeval  Architecture" 
(1879). 

Scott's  (Sir  Gilbert)  "  Personal  and  Professional  Recollec- 
tions" (1879). 

Scott's  (Sir  Gilbert)  Various  Reports  on  Cathedrals. 

Stephen's  (Very  Rev.  Dean)  "Memorials  of  the  See  of 
Chichester"  (1876). 

Street's  (G.  E.)  "  Lectures  on  Architecture  ; "  and  Various 
Papers  on  Ecclesiological  Subjects  (1850-81). 

West's  (John  E.)  "Cathedral  Organists — Past  and  Present" 
(1899)- 

»7S 


276  WORKS    CONSULTED 

Wild's  (Chas.)  "Cathedrals  of  Chester  (1813X  Lincoln  (1819), 
and  Worcester"  (1823). 

Willis'  (Browne)  "Surveys  of  Cathedrals "  (1715-60). 

Willis'  (Professor)  Various  Lectures  and  Papers 
(1840-75). 

The  Ecclesiologist  (1841-68). 

The  Gentleman's  Magazine  (1760- 1860). 

The  Architect  (1869- 1905). 

Autograph  Letters,  mostly  addressed  to  Miss  Maria  Hackett 
(d.  1874),  who  devoted  her  life  to  the  amelioration  and 
education  of  cathedral  choristers ;  and  to  William  Hawes 
of  St  Paul's  Cathedral  and  the  Chapel  Royal  (d.  1846)  : 
in  the  possession  of  Mr  John  S.  Bumpus. 


INDEX 


Alban,  St,  rival  shrine 
of,  at  Ely,  72 

Angel  Choir  at  Lincoln, 
120 

Anglo-Saxon  churches,  10 

Anson,  Dean,  of,  Chester, 
247 

Apse,  disuse  of,  in  Eng- 
land, 4 

Apses  at  Chester,  6 

Architectural  literature,  29 


Barrington,  Bishop,  of 
Durham,  54;  of  Salis- 
bury, 156 

Belfries,  detached,  at 
Chichester,  244 ;  Salis- 
bury, 1 59 ;  Worcester, 
179 

Bells,  at  Lincoln,  127; 
Worcester,  179 

Bentham,  James,  anti- 
quary, 90 

Blomfield,  Bishop,  of 
Chester,  260 


Bristol    Cathedral,    264 ; 

ancient   portions,  265  ; 

nave,  266  ;  choir,  269  ; 

stalls  and  organ,  270; 

sculpture       in       north 

porch,  273 
Britton,  John,  antiquary, 

27 
Burges,    William,    archi- 
tect, 155 

Carileph,  Bishop  of 
Durham,  37 

Carpenter,  Richard,  archi- 
tect, 235 

Carter,    John,    antiquary. 

Cathedrals  of  England 
and  the  Continent  con- 
trasted, 4 

Chandler,  Dean,  of  Chi- 
chester, 231 

Chapter-houses :  Durham, 
55;  Lincoln,  124;  Salis- 
bury,  154;   Worcester, 

183 

•77 


278 


INDEX 


Chester   Cathedral,   246 
plan,  247 ;  history,  248 
nave,  249;  choir,  251 
Lady  Chapel,  253,  261 
choir-stalls,  screen  and 
organ,  254;  re-opening 
services,  257  ;  St  Wer- 
burgha's     shrine,   258 ; 
south     transept      and 
tower,  263 

Chichester  Cathedral, 223; 
Norman  work,  224  ; 
retrochoir,  225  ;  nave 
and  aisles,  227 ;  Lady 
Chapel,  227  ;  south 
transept  window,  228  ; 
cloisters,  229 ;  Sher- 
burne's additions,  230 ; 
Bernardi's  paintings, 
231  ;  Dean  Chandler, 
231;  restorations  under 
Carpenter,  235  ;  fall  of 
spire,  238  ;  its  restora- 
tion, 240;  organ,  241  ; 
reredos,  242  ;  recent 
works,  243;  dimensions, 
244 

Choir-screens  and  stalls : 
Bristol,  270 ;  Chester, 
255;  Chichester,  230; 
Durham,  51  ;  Ely,  82, 
90,  94  ;  Hereford,  215; 
Lincoln,  128;  Salis- 
bury,  157;   Worcester, 

189,  193 
Clayton,  Mr  J.  R.,  artist, 
236 


Cloisters  :  Lincoln,  123  ; 
Salisbury,  153;  Wor- 
cester, 182 

Complete  Gothic  style,  1 5; 
in  Cambridgeshire,  78 

Copes  at  Durham,  48 

Cosin,  Bishop,  of  Durham, 
56 

Cottingham,  L.  N.,  archi- 
tect, 213 

Crocker,  Charles,  verger 
at  Chichester,  233 

Defoe,  Daniel,  on  Dur- 
ham, 49 ;  on  Ely,  90 

Dickson,  Precentor,  of 
Ely,  96 

Durham  Cathedral,  35  ; 
history,  36 ;  plan  and 
style,37;  Galilee  chapel, 
38  ;  western  towers,  39  ; 
Nine  Altars,  40  ;  choir, 
43  ;  vaulting,  44 ;  later 
additions,  44  ;  altar- 
screen  and  throne,  45  ; 
central  tower,47;  copes, 
48  ;  choir-stalls  and 
organ,  51  ;  musical  as- 
sociations, 52  ;  Wyatt's 
vandalisms,  53  ;  Chap- 
ter-house, 55  ;  stained 
glass,  59 

Dykes,  Rev.  J.  B.,  of 
Durham,  52 

Early  English  Style, 
14;  in  Cambridgeshire, 

n 


INDEX 


279 


Eastern    transepts,     117, 

149,  166,  209 
Ecclesiologist,  the,  32 
Ely  Cathedral,  65  ;  origin 
under    St    Etheldreda, 
66  ;  derivation  of  word 
"  tawdry,"  6^  ;  history, 
68 ;    plan   of   Norman 
church,     70  ;     Galilee 
porch,  71  ;  presbytery, 
72  ;  rival  shrine  of  St 
Alban,  72  ;   dedication 
of  completed  cathedral, 
74  ;  Lady  Chapel,  75  ; 
fall   of  Norman  tower 
and     construction      of 
octagon,  76;  fourteenth- 
century  work  in  choir, 
JT,  alterations  in  roofs, 
80 ;    choir  -  stalls,    82  ; 
triforia,     83 ;     western 
tower,      83  ;      Perpen- 
dicular   additions,   85  ; 
cathedral  under  Refor- 
mation, 86 ;  incense  in 
eighteenth  century,  87  ; 
Defoe's  description,  89 ; 
repairs  and  alterations 
under   Essex,  90 ;    re- 
storations under  Dean 
Peacock  and  Sir  G.  G. 
Scott,      92  ;      musical 
associations,  96;  stained 
glass,  100 ;  paintings  in 
nave  and  octagon,  108 
Essex,    James,   architect, 
71.90.  132 


Essex,  R.  H.,  artist,  91 
Etheldreda,  St,  ^^ 
Eustachius,     Bishop,     of 
Ely,  71 

FOSSOR,  Prior,  of  Dur- 
ham, 44 
France,  use  of  apse  in,  6 
Freeman,  Archdeacon,  on 
church  architecture,  i 

Gerente,  H,  and  A., 
stained  glass  by,  103 

Germany,  use  of  apse  in,  7 

Goodrich,  Bishop,  of  Ely, 
86 

Goodwin,  Dean,   of  Ely, 

77,  107 
Gothic  architecture,  great 

variety  of,  7 
Gothic  Revival,  the,  22 

Hackett,  Miss  Maria, 
on  the  service  at  Salis- 
bury, 162 

Hawes,  William,  discovers 
Hereford  Antiphon- 
arium,  141 

Hearne,  T.,  artist,  211 

Hereford  Cathedral,  198  ; 
history,  199;  character- 
istics, 200;  nave  arcades, 
201  ;  procession  path 
and  Lady  Chapel,  204  ; 
clerestory  of  choir,  205 ; 
north  transept,  205  ; 
Cantilupe  shrine,  207 ; 


28o 


INDEX 


Hereford  Cathedral — 
continued — 
south  transept,  208  ; 
fourteenth-century  ad- 
ditions, 208  ;  tower, 
209 ;  old  west  front, 
210;  restorations  by 
Cottingham  and  Scott, 
213  ;  choir-screen,  216 ; 
reredos,  217;  reopen- 
ing services,  218;  Sir 
F.  Gore  Ouseley,  218; 
musical  associations, 
221 

Hereford    Office    Books, 
discovery  of,  141 

Hook,Dean,of  Chichester, 
240 

Hotham,  Bishop,  of  Ely, 

79 
Howson,  Dean,  of  Chester, 

247,  250 
Hugh,     St,     Bishop     of 

Lincoln,  114 
Hussey,  R.  C,  architect, 

254 

Incense,  use  of,  at  Ely, 
87 

KiNGSLEY,    Canon,    of 

Chester,  251 
Knowle,  Abbot,  of  Bristol, 

265 

Lady  Chapels,  positions 
of,  171 


Laudian  epoch,  Durham 
Cathedral  during,  48 

Le  Strange,  Styleman, 
artist,  109 

Lincoln  Cathedral,  113; 
history,  114;  St  Hugh's 
work,  115;  west  front, 
118;  nave,  119;  Angel 
Choir,  120;  sculpture, 
122  ;  cloisters,  123  ; 
Chapter  -  house,  1 24  ; 
central  tower,  126  ; 
western  towers,  127; 
bells,  127;  choir-stalls, 
129;  organ,  131  ;  rere- 
dos, 132 ;  stained  glass, 
135 

Mawson,  Bishop,  of  Ely, 

91 

Melsonby,  Prior,  of 
Durham,  40 

Merewether,  Dean,  of 
Hereford,  141,  203 

Milner,  Bishop,  antiquary, 
26 

Musical  associations  of 
Chester,  256 ;  Chiches- 
ter, 234,  241  ;  Durham, 
48,  50,  52;  Ely,  96; 
Hereford,  220;  Lincoln, 
1 3 1 ;  Worcester,  1 94, 1 96 

New  Foundation,  ca- 
thedrals of  the,  8 

Nine  Altars,  chapel  of, 
at  Durham,  40 


INDEX 


281 


Norman  era,  12 
Northwold,  Bishop,of  Ely, 

71 

Octagon,  the,  at  Ely,  65, 
76,  109 

Old  Foundation,  cathe- 
drals of  the,  8 

Old  Sarum,  cathedral  at, 

145 

Organs,  at  Bristol,  270 ; 
Chester,  256;  Chiches- 
ter, 241  ;  Durham,  56 ; 
Ely,  97,  98  ;  Hereford, 
215  ;  Lincoln,  131  ; 
Salisbury,  160;  Wor- 
cester, 194 

Ouseley,  Sir  F.  Gore,  196, 
218 

Parker,  J.  H.,  antiquary, 

31 
Peacock,   Dean,  of   Ely, 

92,  106 

Pearson,  J,  L.,  architect, 
136 

Perkins,  E.  A.,  architect, 
174,  184 

Perpendicular  style,  16 

Pointed  styles,  variety  of,  7 

Poore,  Bishop,  of  Durham, 
41  ;  of  Salisbury,  145 

Pudsey,  Bishop,  of  Dur- 
ham, 38 

Pugin,  A.  W.,  architect, 
57,83,211 


Redfern,  F.,  sculptor, 
151,273 

Reformation,  the,influence 
on  church  building,  17 

Reredoses  :  Chichester, 
242  ;  Hereford,  217  ; 
Worcester,  191 

Revival  of  Gothic,  22 

Rickman,  Thomas,  archi- 
tect, 30 

Ridel,  Bishop,  of  Ely,  70 

Roof  paintings :  Chiches- 
ter, 230 ;  Ely,  108  ; 
Salisbury,  164 ;  Wor- 
cester, 190 


Salisbury  Cathedral, 
138;  St  Osmund  and 
"Use  of  Sarum,"  138; 
Old  Sarum  Cathedral, 
145  ;  consistent  style  of 
present  cathedral,  147 ; 
spire,  149 ;  west  front, 
150  ;  statuary,  151  5 
cloisters,  153  ;  Chapter- 
house, 1 54 ;  its  restora- 
tion, 155;  alterations 
in  choir  under  Bishops 
Hume  and  Barrington, 
1 56  ;  stained  glass,  1 57 ; 
destruction  of  cam- 
panile, 1 59 ;  organ,  161 ; 
Bishop's  Boy,  162  ;  re- 
storations under  Scott, 
163 ;  roof  paintings  in 
choir,  164 


S* 


282 


INDEX 


Sarum,  Old,  cathedral  of, 

145 

Sarum  Use,  138 

Scott,  Sir  Gilbert,  archi- 
tect, 47,  93,  163,  188, 
208,  255,  272 

Screens,  57 

Seflfrid,  Bishop,  of  Chiches- 
ter, 224 

Sherburne,  Bishop,  of 
Chichester,  228 

Simeon,  Abbot,  of  Ely,  68 

Slater,  W.,  architect,  238 

Stained  glass  :  Bristol, 
269,  273  ;  Chester,  254, 
262,  263 ;  Chichester, 
227,  229,  233,  235; 
Durham,  59 ;  Ely,  89, 
100 ;  Hereford,  206, 
222  ;  Lincoln,  135  ; 
Salisbury,  158;  Wor- 
cester, 174,  185,  186 

Street,  G.  E.,  architect, 
266 

Tenbury,  St    Michael's 

College,  219 
Transition  Style,  13 
Turton,  Bishop,  of  Ely,  95 

Wailes,  Wm.,  artist  in 
stained  glass,  loi,  235 

Walpole,  Horace,  and 
Gothic,  24 

Walsingham,  Alan  of,  75 


Wessington,      Prior,      of 

Durham,  46 
Werburgha,  St,  258 
Wild,  Charles.,  artist,  92 
Willis,  Prof,  198,  238,  239 
Worcester  Cathedral,  166; 
plan  and  external  ap- 
pearance, 166 ;  history, 
167;  St  Wulfstan,  168; 
Lady     Chapel,      171  ; 
choir,  173;  east  window, 
174;  nave,  175;  Jesus 
Chapel,  177;  tower,  178; 
bells,    179 ;  campanile, 
179  ;    transepts,    180  ; 
crypt,    181  ;     cloisters, 
1 82  ;      Chapter  -  house, 
183 ;  restorations  under 
Perkins  and  Scott,  1 84 ; 
stained  glass,  174,  185, 
186  ;      natural      poly- 
chromy,  180,  183,  185  ; 
west  door  and  window, 
186  ;    choral    arrange- 
ments, 189,  193  ;  rere- 
dos,       191  ;        Prince 
Arthur's  Chantry,  192 ; 
King  John's  tomb,  192  ; 
organ,     194 ;     musical 
associations,  196 
Wren,  Sir  C,  18,  89 
Wulfstan,   St,  Bishop  of 

Worcester,  168 
Wyatt,  James,   architect, 
26,  53,  157.210 


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